


Rescue

by rendawnie, shuuvee



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Bad Boy Minghao, Best friends Chan/Minghao, Best friends Junhui/Soonyoung, Crack, Feelings, Fluff, Goody Two Shoes Junhui, Hotheaded Minghao, Kissing, M/M, Minor SoonHoon, Pet Shelter, Protective Minghao, Sassy Junhui, side meanie, side verkwan - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2018-07-05
Packaged: 2019-05-02 10:36:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 40,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14542866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rendawnie/pseuds/rendawnie, https://archiveofourown.org/users/shuuvee/pseuds/shuuvee
Summary: When Soonyoung finally "agrees" to let Junhui get a dog for their apartment, he realizes that he needed something a little bit more than a puppy.Enter Minghao, the bona fide Bad Boy™ with tattoos and piercings. Oh, and he doodles puppies and kittens in their Probability and Confirmation class.





	1. Junhui

**Author's Note:**

> Updates every Friday or Saturday!~

 

Inside a classroom, time always seemed to be a myth. If you wanted it to go faster, it went slower. If you wanted it to move like molasses (and honestly, why would anyone ever want that during a class, especially one as tedious as Probability and Confirmation?), it sped by. Junhui could never decide which he’d prefer, these days. Not since Xu Minghao started sitting next to him at the back of the room.

Minghao was new this semester. Junhui knew that. It was one of the few pieces of knowledge he’d gleaned in the months since they’d “met.” Junhui had been putting met in quotations, because he hadn’t actually had the nerve to say much to Minghao, so far. Their daily interactions generally consisted of a “hey” or “what’s up” when either of them walked in and saw the other. Sometimes, just a short, silent nod sufficed. It wasn’t because Junhui was _afraid_ of Minghao, or anything. That would be ridiculous. There wasn’t anything scary about him, really, not his array of tattoos or the piercings dotting his ears, with one in his eyebrow. Certainly not the beat-up leather jacket he wore every day, along with the nearly permanent scowl. It only seemed to leave his face every now and then, when he would fall asleep on his desk.

Junhui wasn’t scared, okay? Minghao just...made him feel _extra_ dorky.

He knew he was a dork, pre-Minghao. Junhui never skipped class, even the ones he hated (like Probability and Confirmation, for example). He turned in every assignment on time, studied an appropriate number of days in advance for all his exams. He got decent grades in return.

He enjoyed things like video games, and comic books. Maybe even the occasional, casual game of Dungeons and Dragons.

Truly, he was a _massive_ nerd, and Minghao was just...massively hot. They didn’t match. Their leagues were nowhere near each other’s. It was fine. Junhui wasn’t bothered at all, actually, because college was for studying, not dating. He’d made a promise to himself when he got here: he would definitely, in no way, no way at all, let any cute boy get in the way of his goals. The only problem with that, was that he still sort of needed to figure out what those goals even _were._

Philosophy classes were all well and good, when Junhui thought he wanted to become a lawyer, or maybe a professor. Both of those thoughts faded quickly when classes actually began. Now, he was four months into his sophomore year, still floundering and taking whatever classes piqued his interest (and kept his parents off his back, or at least moderately silent and not threatening to “pop up” for a visit every weekend or three), and the minute Minghao walked into Probability and Confirmation, Junhui stopped giving any sorts of damns about what the professor was saying, and instead, he became incredibly concerned with trying to figure out what the tattoo he could see peeking out of one sleeve on Minghao’s leather jacket sometimes was, when he raised his hands above his head. Not to ask questions in class, but to yawn impressively.

Besides scowling and sleeping, the only other thing Junhui had seen Minghao do during philosophy lectures was draw.

He didn’t notice it at first, because Minghao liked to draw with one arm curled around whatever paper he’d dug up to doodle on, as if he was trying to keep a secret, keep it just for himself. But one day, on his way out of class, Minghao got up from his desk so abruptly that one of his little slips of paper floated to the ground while Junhui watched. He watched it until it settled near the toe of his worn Chucks, until he was a hundred percent positive that Minghao had left the room. Then, Junhui leaned over and picked it up. He was already the last student sitting in the classroom. Everyone else had rushed out the door at the first opportunity the professor gave them. He figured he had a few minutes to sit and peruse whatever Minghao had drawn.

Junhui laid the piece of paper face down on the desk in front of him, eyeing it carefully. Suddenly, he felt nosy. Like he was invading Minghao’s privacy, even though it was just a picture and even though Minghao wasn’t even there to see him do it, and would never know. It was just...it felt almost intimate, in an innocent way.

It felt like Junhui was really, _really_ over analyzing things.

Sighing, he flipped over the paper, annoyed at himself and his brain. When he glanced down and saw what was on it, he was torn between wanting to laugh out loud, and a healthy dose of what the _fuck._

Apparently, Xu Minghao, local unfriendly bad boy, spent his time in Probability and Confirmation doodling puppies and kittens.

While Junhui was still trying to decide whether or not he should indulge his intense need to chortle, he examined the drawings closer. They weren’t simple line drawings, ones that anyone could pull off with enough concentration. They weren’t photorealistic, either. They had a certain _style._ Junhui thought about all the art he liked, all the cartoons and comics and anime he enjoyed. He’d spent enough time absorbing all of that art that he knew, without a doubt, that he could pick out the artist’s particular choices anytime he was presented with them: a pen flair there, a splash of color here. He felt like he could probably do that with anything Minghao drew from that point on, and he’d only looked at two puppies playing with a ball together, and a kitten, tangled up in a ball of yarn.

Junhui wondered if this was one of those moments, those important Life Moments where you knew you were being utterly, absolutely ridiculous, and subsequently had to make a decision on whether or not to continue down the path of dumbassery.

He’d gathered his things finally, slipping Minghao’s drawing into the side pocket of his messenger bag, and Junhui pondered his conundrum all the way down the steps of the lecture hall and out the door, into the nearly empty corridor of this building. Junhui had just about decided to swerve out of Loser Lane and coast down..some other...road...that winners used (he was still thinking about puppies and kittens and honestly, he wasn’t really in his right mind, okay? That was the only explanation for all the strange analogies he was coming up with), when suddenly, he bumped straight into the object of his internal confusion.

Minghao was stronger than he looked. Junhui decided that almost immediately. Running into him, _literally_ running into his person with Junhui’s own person, wasn’t unlike how he thought running into a brick wall must feel. Fleetingly, Junhui’s mind wandered to how many more tattoos he would be able to see if he could _also_ see all of Minghao’s many muscles, the ones he now knew beyond a shadow of a doubt definitely existed under all that old leather he wore.

“Uh,” Junhui blurted eloquently, averting his eyes to the ground, where they belonged. They definitely didn’t belong all over Minghao, which was where he currently wanted to put them. Along with his hands.

 _ANY_ way.

“Um,” Minghao started at the same time, their words bumping into each other just like their bodies had a few seconds before. Neither of them followed with anything else for a moment, and then finally Junhui came up with something.

“Hi. Um. You’re still here. Wow, that’s so weird, because...because everyone else is like, gone...and…like...you’re definitely not...so…”

Look, he never claimed that what he was going to say would make any sense whatsoever, all right?

Minghao was just watching him melt down, watching quietly and calmly, with only a hint of amusement in his eyes, and Junhui really sort of appreciated that. Minghao didn’t say anything at all until Junhui finally got his mouth to stop moving, twenty or so stumbling words later. He waited a beat, until he was sure Junhui was done with...whatever he was doing, and then Minghao licked his lips and smiled a little.

“Yeah, I’m still here. I have an appointment with the...with the office in like, ten minutes, so I figured there wasn’t any point in burning off too fast,” Minghao said. Junhui was far too out of his mind to notice the awkward, suspicious pauses in Minghao’s words.

“Oh. Well. Sorry I was...in your way,” Junhui tried next, even though it wasn’t much better than any of the nonsense he’d babbled before.

Minghao chuckled. “You weren’t.”

Junhui swallowed thickly. “Oh.”

It was going stunningly well, honestly.

Minghao shifted from foot to foot, hiking his backpack up his shoulder a little. “All right, well. See you Thursday, Jun.”

Junhui had no idea how or why Minghao knew his name. He only knew that the way Minghao said it made it sound different than anyone else ever had. It sounded better.

Junhui really needed to get more sleep, he decided. It was starting to affect his daily life.

He nodded, and then Minghao nodded, and then they both started to walk in exactly the same direction.

Minghao stopped first, looking pleasantly irritated. Junhui slowed to a halt too. They looked at each other for a second, the silence between them just short of uncomfortable. Minghao shook his head in what might have been disbelief, actual annoyance, or confusion, and started off again, and Junhui had no choice but to follow, because Minghao was walking in the direction of both the administrative offices _and_ the parking lot, where Junhui’s car was. The blessed vehicle that would take him off campus and away from this parade of humiliation he was currently riding the lead float in.

First he walked a few steps behind Minghao, then Junhui sped up for no reason and jogged in front of him for a bit while they crossed the courtyard. When he got tired of doing that, Junhui paused again and waited until Minghao caught up with him, and they walked the rest of the way side by side. Totally normal. Nothing to see here, folks. Certainly not Wen Junhui making a complete ass of himself in front of a Hot Bad Boy Type.

They walked without saying anything, until the quiet got too loud for Junhui, and he said the only thing he could think of, while he was trying to concentrate on walking without tripping and behaving like a cool guy, instead of a giant freaking nerd. “You’re really good at drawing.”

Immediately, Junhui cringed. Internally. He hoped to hell it was remaining internal. It was basically the last thing he should have said, ever, because now he really _was_ invading Minghao’s privacy, and Minghao was going to hate him forever, obviously, and they would never get to know each other and become friends and then become best friends, Kwon Soonyoung be damned, and after best friends came boyfriends, and he would finally, _finally_ get to put his hands all over the 24-pack Minghao was probably hiding under his t-shirt.

Minghao stopped walking again. “You’ve seen my drawings?” He didn’t sound mad. He didn’t sound happy, either. He sounded...carefully careful. Cautious. Whatever.

Junhui scrambled for the right words. Ones that wouldn’t implicate him in any sort of illicit fuckery, preferably. “Um. Well. You see. I...I, uh--”

“You must have pretty good eyes, to see all the way from your desk over my arm,” Minghao mused. “I mean, I don’t do it on purpose, really. Putting my arm in the way of anyone seeing my paper. It’s just...a habit,” he finished, biting his lip. Junhui wondered if Minghao would ever get a lip ring. He had the mouth for it.

“I mean,” Junhui started, his mind still working overtime on a plausible cover story, “I guess I’ve seen maybe...one or two...pictures? Drawings? Like, just by chance, really, passing by or whatever. It’s not like...I haven’t like, been looking on purpose.”

That part was true, at least.

Minghao shrugged. “S’fine. I don’t care.” He didn’t say thank you. He was probably too busy thinking about how Junhui was a total weirdo. He wouldn’t be wrong.

Suddenly, Junhui realized that right then might be his only chance to talk to Minghao like this, one on one, with no one else around. Right then might have been the only time he could say any number of things he’d wanted to, for a long time.

Junhui finished sorting out the most embarrassing ideas, and stashed them in the side of his brain that was probably dead from too much school and too much Minghao exposure. In the end, he went with: “You know, if you ever wanted to like, study or draw or do...whatever, you could come to my apartment, there’s plenty of room there and I have my own room, and--”

Minghao’s expression turned dark before Junhui could register it was happening. He didn’t know what he’d said to cause it, to cause everything to flip so quickly. He just knew that Minghao was frowning now, looking anywhere except at Junhui as he bit some words out. “See you around, Junhui.” With that, Minghao stalked past Junhui and made a sharp right, and Junhui wanted to call out to him, to tell him that he wasn’t going in the direction of the offices anymore, he was going to the parking lot, but he figured Minghao was probably aware of that. It seemed pretty intentional.

He wondered what he’d said to set Minghao off. He wondered it all the way to the parking lot, walking much slower than Minghao had stomped away. Junhui glanced around when he got to his car. No Minghao. He sighed, unlocking the door and flopping down into the passenger seat, and absolutely did not spend the entire ten minute drive to his apartment picking apart every millisecond of the end of his conversation with Minghao, trying to understand what he’d done and how he could undo it.

In the end, Junhui decided (i.e., forced himself upon penalty of...whatever he could come up with, later, when it mattered) that he wasn’t going to let it get to him. He was an adult, sort of, with adult problems. Ones that didn’t include whatever multiple personalities Xu Minghao had at his disposal.

Junhui was fine. The events of that afternoon totally weren’t consuming him and threatening to swallow his thoughts whole.

He was _fine._

*

“Hey, do you know Xu Minghao?” Junhui asked Soonyoung _very casually_ over bowls of noodles at their kitchen table later that night, after he’d spent about four hours living his best, productive life, not obsessing over the Minghao Situation whatsoever, at all.

Soonyoung slurped a noodle between his pursed lips, chewing it as he answered. “Yeah. Why?”

Junhui didn't know why he was surprised. It wasn’t like he was the only person allowed to know Minghao. Even an antisocial Bad Boy™ like Minghao probably had to have at least a couple of friends.

Junhui frowned a little. “From where?”

Soonyoung shrugged. “I dunno. Around? I think I met him like, once, when he stopped by dance team practice. I guess he was thinking about joining, but never did.”

Junhui tried to imagine Minghao on Soonyoung’s dance team, doing all the intricate hip-hop moves and overtly sexual hip thrusts Soonyoung favored. He couldn’t do it. Maybe it was that he didn't _want_ to do it, especially when he considered that last part. Shaking his head to clear that thought out, Junhui went on. “Oh,” he said, picking at his food again like nothing had happened.

Soonyoung raised an eyebrow at him. “‘Oh’? That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”

Junhui pressed his lips together and hoped he wasn’t blushing. “Yes.”

Soonyoung dropped a few noodles back into his bowl. Junhui decided not to mention that the action made ramen broth splash all over the table.

Wiping his mouth with his napkin, Soonyoung stared at Junhui suspiciously. “Why, do _you_ know him?”

Junhui shrugged. “Kind of, I guess. He’s in my Prob and Conf lecture.”

Soonyoung rolled his eyes. “Whatever that means.” He took another bite. “And?”

Junhui groaned. “And nothing, you mouth-breather. And I just wondered if he had any friends, or whatever. I guess.” He didn't really know why he was adding “I guess” to the end of all these thoughts, suddenly. Maybe Junhui felt like it would acquit him of some of the responsibility, make it okay that he had somehow ruined things with Minghao before they even started, and it would become totally reasonable that he had no idea why.

Soonyoung was smirking, now. “Wen Junhui, you have a crush.”

Junhui’s jaw dropped. “I do not!”

Nodding, Soonyoung started to look more and more victorious. Junhui wasn’t sure what he was claiming victory over, but he probably didn't want to find out, either. “Fuck yeah, you do, dude. It’s cool! You can crush on whoever you want!” he decided, as if Junhui needed his best friend’s permission to do so. Y’know. If he had a crush in the first place. Which he didn’t.

“Thank you,” Junhui muttered, dropping his head into his hands. He used the time to himself to think of how to steer this conversation in another direction, preferably one exactly opposite of where it was currently heading. It had already gone too far for his liking. Luckily, it only took a few moments for him to pinpoint a topic that would have Soonyoung running for the metaphorical hills, or at least his bedroom, leaving Junhui alone with his innumerable thoughts. “So, about the dog I’m definitely adopting soon…”

Soonyoung got up from the table immediately, snatching Junhui’s bowl from in front of him before he’d even finished his ramen. Junhui tried to protest. It didn’t really work, because Soonyoung was always one conversational step ahead of him, even when he was trying to change the subject himself.

“ _No,_ Jun. We are not getting a dog. They are horrible creatures who drool everywhere and tear up the furniture, and--”

“--not unlike you,” Junhui interjected, pleased at his own wit. He anticipated the smack on the head with a dish towel Soonyoung attempted to aim at him a half second before it happened, ducking his head as the towel whooshed above him. Soonyoung made sort of a _hrmph_ sound, but he didn’t try for another slap.

“Jun. I don’t _want_ a dog,” Soonyoung said, yelling to be heard over the rushing water at the sink. “I’m not a dog person. I’m not even a pet person!” he exclaimed.

Junhui rolled his eyes. “Well, I am, and I want a dog. It won’t be _your_ dog, dude. You won’t even have to do anything! I’ll feed it and walk it and clean up after it.”

Soonyoung turned off the water, snorting. “Yeah, for about a month, until you lose interest and find some other thing to get into. Y’know, kinda like how you’ve been doing with these rando classes you keep signing up for, with no major in sight, for two years.”

Junhui wanted to argue with that, he really did. But Soonyoung was unequivocally right about the classes, even if Junhui hated to admit it.

He was still wrong about the dog, though.

“That’s not gonna happen, I swear,” Junhui promised. “I’ve wanted a dog since I was a kid, but my parents would never let me get one. Now I’ve got my own apartment--”

“--that you don’t have to pay for, because I pay for it out of my trust fund,” Soonyoung reminded him.

“I pay for groceries!” Junhui protested. “And, I bought that lamp right there,” he said, pointing a finger into the living room at the atrocious, cheap lighting fixture he’d brought home from the local flea market one Sunday afternoon.

Soonyoung plopped down into his chair across from Junhui again. “Congratulations, you own a lamp,” he said dryly.

Junhui ignored that jab, still thinking. Trying to find a way to get what he wanted. “I’ll do the dishes for a month,” he said finally. Soonyoung hated dishes. Junhui used that fact as a bargaining chip more frequently than he liked to admit.

Soonyoung rubbed his eyes tiredly. “Three months, and I’ll think about it.”

Junhui sat forward, his elbows on the table. “Two months, and I’m definitely getting a dog.”

“Two and a half, and you can have a gerbil,” Soonyoung countered.

“Two and three quarters, plus laundry, plus I’ll talk to that mean little midget T.A. you have a giant heart boner for on your behalf,” Junhui proposed, and when Soonyoung started to blush beet red, he knew he’d won.

He didn’t answer for a long while. They stared each other down at the table, neither of them wanting to break eye contact first. After a while, Junhui started to wonder if Soonyoung had fallen asleep with his eyes open. He wouldn’t put it past him. They’d known each other for ten years, and he’d seen it happen before.

“Two and three quarters, plus laundry, plus you’ll talk to Jihoon using only an approved list of comments and facts which I make for you and you _do not go off book,_ got it, and I’ll continue to think about it,” Soonyoung decided.

“Go with me to the shelter this weekend, and you’ve got yourself a deal. The minute you lay eyes on those sweet little puppies, you’ll change your mind,” Junhui said confidently.

Soonyoung groaned. “I hate my life.”

Junhui grinned, fists in the air victoriously. “We’re getting a dog!”


	2. Minghao

Screw that appointment with his college counselor -- he didn’t need to waste his time talking with Choi Seungcheol for the umpteenth time this semester. It wasn’t like his college counselor actually cared about him; the suave, faux-soothing voice Seungcheol liked to use during their “appointments” was just a ruse. Seungcheol probably just used them to stroke his ego, to make himself feel good that he was helping a troubled kid get through college  _ and  _ life in general. It probably made him feel like he was really making a difference in the world because he got a certified Loser like Xu Minghao to enroll at their prestigious top-tier institution. Minghao was already imagining their next admissions brochure: “If this Loser turned it around, so can you!” said the speech bubble next to Minghao’s half-smiling Generic College Student pose.

 

Minghao took a left, shuffling through the crowded crosswalk.

 

Screw Probability and Confirmation for being the biggest waste of his time ever. After the second class of the professor droning on and on and on about capital E Existentialism and John Locke, he lost total interest in paying attention to the lectures. He was 110% sure he could literally put anything on his written exams, and the professor would think that it was “insightful” and “profound,” to use his favorite philosophy buzzwords. This, despite the fact that his written exam would probably be 110% word vomit with those precise buzzwords. 

 

He practically walked through some random dude, his shoulder pushing the other guy aside. He took a right.

 

It wasn’t like he didn’t write anything down during class. No, he had a half-page of semi-coherent notes with multiple words triply-underlined, probably because he heard the prof repeat them at least seventeen times. How do you even take notes in a philosophy class? Half of the lecture slides are just random pictures of random bronze statues of random Greek dudes who had some random ideas that they wrote in a random book 2000 years ago. The class was randomly structured with a nonsensical syllabus that emphasized random discussions that the same two students participated in with no goddamn end in sight every class. He learned more by doodling cats from the shelter.

 

Minghao swung another left, ignoring the senile-looking old dude playing harmonica on the street corner. No, he didn’t have any money, he thought, clutching the two dollars in his pocket.

 

And, most of all,  _ screw Wen Junhui for existing _ . Of all the people who he could run into after class in a desolate hallway, it had to be Wen Junhui. Of all the people who could know about his lame-ass doodles, it had to be Wen Junhui. Of all the people who could invite him over to their apartment, it had to be Wen Junhui. And of course he did all of that while be the biggest freaking dork ever. It was Too. Goddamn. Cute.

 

He tapped his foot waiting for the next light to change. Minghao was impatient, but he didn’t know why.

 

Yes, you heard that right, random person tuning into Minghao’s inner monologue: Xu Minghao, the twenty year-old college student who wears leather jackets, has three tattoos, and five piercings, is in love with a twink like Wen Junhui. Are you surprised? He was too for about five minutes. When Jun walked into their first class together, he remembered actually perking up a little bit to check him out. He thought Junhui was so fucking cute with his sharp, bookish features, his messy raven-black hair, and his tall, lithe frame. Minghao was a master of playing it cool around people who caught his eye, but he knew deep down that he was seriously intrigued. Junhui ticked off all the boxes on the checklist entitled “Minghao’s Type.” It was only a matter of time before he fully admitted that Wen Junhui was half the reason he was distracted in Prob and Conf. 

 

The light switched to green, and he crossed along with what seemed like the rest of humanity. He shoved his way to the right and switched directions yet again, his worn boots stomping down on puddles without much care.

 

So why did he snap at Jun? Why did he go against all of his feelings?

 

Minghao stopped again, staring down at one of the puddles. Nobody was around him -- it was quiet off of the main street.

 

He didn’t know. Half of him was so goddamn smitten. When Jun physically ran into him and immediately apologized even though it wasn’t his fault, when Jun stuttered in the cutest way possible, when Jun talked about how he liked his stupid little anime drawings... god, Minghao just wanted to melt right then and there. But the other half of him knew it was fake. How did he know? He just knew, okay. It was inevitable. He knew that Jun didn’t actually like him, that Jun was just apologizing because he was scared of the weird guy with a bunch of piercings in his philosophy class, that Jun was just making fun of him when he talked about his chibi-kittens. He got so angry -- no, upset was the right word -- that he just wanted to walk away. He let his feelings flash in front of Jun, mostly just to push him away, He knew Junhui would hate the real Minghao, so he just made it easier for both of them: push him away before Jun learned too much about who he really was.

 

A single raindrop splashed in the puddle he was staring at, the ripples distorting his features. Shit, it was starting to rain. Minghao ran his hand through his dark hair, wondering where he was; he had been walking aimlessly for what seemed like an hour.

 

“Shit,” he muttered under his breath, recognizing where he was. He didn’t want to be  _ here _ of all places; what if Jeonghan was here? He searched frantically, analyzing each street corner while licking his lips nervously. Swarms of people were coming and going along the main road, so it was hard to see. He crossed the street he was on to get a better look; Jeonghan had long blonde hair the last time he had seen him, but who knew what he looked like now. All he knew is that he did  _ not _ want to talk to him today of all days. Giving up, Minghao ducked inside one of the convenience stores.

 

He licked his lips again, feeling out of place. Convenience stores were always a little overwhelming, so much crap packed into such a small space. He hated squeezing past people to get through the narrow aisles… everybody always gave him weird looks, and he would always just tut back, rolling his eyes. They were probably judging him because of his tattoos and piercings while they went about their boring day during their boring life. He normally hated normal people -- why did he like Jun then?

 

Ugh, focus, Minghao. Why did he go to the convenience store again? He jammed his hands into his pockets, immediately feeling the two dollars again. Oh, right: food. That’s why he was here despite his undying hatred of convenience stores. Luckily, it was pretty empty. He didn’t even need to go search for what he was looking for; why was he so worried? Why was he so on-edge? 

 

He grabbed a Snickers bar and a pack of gum, shoving them toward the clerk at the counter, who scanned them both.

 

“Three dollars.”

 

Minghao reached into his pocket, pulling out only two.

 

“Shit,” he muttered. “Um, I’ll only take the candy bar, I guess.”

 

The clerk sighed. Apparently he didn’t get paid enough to deal with this. At least he was getting paid, Minghao thought to himself.

 

“Two dollars.”

 

Minghao shoved his cash down on the counter, grabbed his candy bar, and didn’t wait for the receipt before darting out of the store. He shoved the Snickers bar in his jacket pocket and checked his phone: 1:52. He only had eight minutes to make it to the shelter; Minghao knew he was going to be late. He threw his hood over his head, and ducked back into the crowds of people. Hopefully Dokyeom didn’t chew him out this time.

 

*

 

Why would Dokyeom chew him out? Dokyeom was literally the least confrontational person ever, and, honestly, it seemed like he was just happy to get the extra help at the shelter. Who cared if Minghao showed up ten minutes late -- he was a volunteer anyways. At least, that’s how he rationalized showing up late to himself.

 

Yes, Xu Minghao, the leather jacket-clad street-certified bad boy  _ volunteered _ in his free time. Where, you might ask? At the pet shelter of course. Street trash was his name and cats and dogs were his game. His sidekick?

 

“Hao-hao, you’re late!”

 

Don’t even ask.

 

“Not today, Dino,” he muttered, rolling his eyes. He knew he should have entered through the back -- the bell at the front was dead giveaway. Not that it would’ve mattered much anyways: Dino was going to annoy him eventually.

 

“Oh come on, Minghao,” Dino protested, shooting Minghao a fake-hurt look. “What if I told you I brought you ramen today?”

 

Minghao stopped. He thought about how hungry he was and how that Snickers bar wasn’t going to be enough. Dino liked to bring him food: at first, he used to refuse until Dino finally convinced him that it would be going to waste if Minghao didn’t eat it. He sighed, and Dino knew then that he had acquiesced, a big smile breaking across his face.

 

“Fine--”

 

“--Let me grab it, Hao-hao!” Dino interjected before Minghao could finish his long, exasperated concession. He shook his head while Dino abandoned the front counter, running back to his bag to grab what was now half of Minghao’s lunch. Snickers and instant ramen? He’d had sadder lunches, believe it or not. Or no lunch.

 

“Here you go,” Dino announced, putting the cup-ramen back on the counter.

 

“Thanks, kiddo,” he replied, ruffling Dino’s hair as he headed to the small employee “lounge” as they affectionately called it. “We can get started on our usual routine after I eat, okay?”

 

Dino nodded in response.

 

In reality, the “lounge” was no more than small round table with two chairs, a microwave, and a mini-fridge that no one but Dokyeom used. Minghao threw his ramen cup in the microwave and let it heat up for two minutes. 

 

Their pet shelter certainly wasn’t one of the largest in the city, but it served its purpose. About two dozen dogs and cats called this shelter their temporary home. The obvious goal was that these cats and dogs would be adopted, or, more accurately,  _ rescued _ , by a loving and caring owner. Of course, practically that didn’t always happen. Minghao formed connections with most of the adoptable cats and dogs, serving as their primary day-to-day caregiver aside from Dokyeom. Dokyeom was technically his boss as the only employee of the shelter who was actually paid; he was a mix between an administrator, who managed the day-to-day paperwork and things like that, and also a vet tech, who could perform basic check-ups for the days when the actual vet wasn’t in. Minghao was a senior volunteer, devoting lots of hours at the shelter. It was like his home. Volunteer was a bit of a misnomer too -- Dokyeom did pay him a little each month, just not nearly at minimum wage. It was an arrangement that Minghao was okay with, considering how much he worked here. Finally, Dino was the newest volunteer; Minghao and Dokyeom had just finished formally training him. They were quite the team: Dokyeom was quiet, supremely qualified, and a little mopey, Dino was bright, enthusiastic, and sunshine-y, and Minghao? Well, Minghao was  _ Minghao _ . Jaded and a bit sarcastic around people, but soft and caring with the two-dozen pets under his care.

 

The microwave started obnoxiously beeping, signaling that his food was done. He carefully removed the ramen cup, fished out a plastic spork, and took his Snickers out from his jacket pocket. Bon appetit: gourmet meals by Minghao in two minutes. 

 

Dino must have been distracted with something else because usually he bothered him 24/7 once he walked in the door.

 

“Hao-hao!”

 

\-- he spoke too soon.

 

“How was your day? How was class?” Dino was standing in the doorway to the lounge, halfway between the employees-only area and the front desk. 

 

“Boring,” Minghao replied. He fished out a spoonful of ramen, blowing on the noodles to cool them down.

 

“You always say that!”

 

Minghao shoved the ramen into his mouth and started talking while chewing: “Because class is always boring.”

 

“C’mon, Hao-hao. Something interesting must’ve happened,” Dino insisted, not missing a beat.

 

Minghao scooped out another spoonful of ramen. He thought about his encounter with Junhui earlier, made a face, and then decided to lie.

 

“Literally nothing interesting happened, Dino.”

 

“Nothing? Nothing at all?”

 

Minghao swallowed. “Well, now that I think about it…” he started, watching Dino’s eyes light up in anticipation, “I  _ did _ run into this annoying kid at the shelter who wouldn’t leave me alone during lunch…”

 

Dino frowned. “Not funny, Hao-hao.”

 

Minghao just smirked in response, going for more ramen.

 

“You’re literally the most interesting person I know, how can nothing ever happen in your life?”

 

Minghao? Interesting? He scoffed in response. “You only see me on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when I have Prob and Conf. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are more interesting,” he explained. 

 

“Okay, well what happened yesterday?”

 

“Got an A on my dance practical.”

 

“Really? That’s great! Good job, Hao-hao!” Dino held up his left hand for a high-five. Minghao was still in the middle of eating, but he decided to humor his friend, fist-bumping Dino’s open palm while slurping down his last spoonful of noodles. Dino just made an amused face in response.

 

“It’s not that impressive,” he elaborated, tossing his spork in the empty ramen cup. “They’re starting us off with real basic stuff, and I wish they’d just move onto harder things already. I get that this class is a pre-req or whatever, but come on.”

 

“I’m--”

 

Before Dino could start saying much, the bell at the front rang, meaning someone (Dino) had to take care of it.

 

“You got it?” Minghao half-asked, half-suggested, waving his Snickers bar at Dino.

 

“Yeah!”

 

Dino disappeared back to the front desk, leaving Minghao to eat his Snickers in peace. Still, he listened in, half-concerned that it might be something that Dino wasn’t comfortable handling on his own. He unwrapped the candy bar took a large bite, demolishing the first-third of the Snickers.

 

“How can I help you?” he heard Dino say from the front.

 

He took another bite. So far, so good. He could hear the customer respond, but he couldn’t make out the words. It sounded like a guy, though.

 

“I’m sorry, sir, we only work with cats and dogs.”

 

Minghao rolled his eyes. Did someone bring in their pet hamster again?

 

“You talked to Dokyeom about it this morning?”

 

He definitely did not, Minghao thought to himself. This was going to get out of hand; Dino was too nice, he wasn’t going to turn the visitor away like he was supposed to. Minghao left his candy bar on the table and headed to the front desk; he was so ready to turn this random dude and his hamster away.

 

“Dino, what’s going on?” he asked, standing next to his shorter friend at the front desk. He sized up the guy who Dino was dealing with. He couldn’t be much older than either him or Dokyeom, and he was holding an opaque pet carrier that was far too small for either a cat or a dog.

 

“Um, he says that Dokyeom agreed to see his chinchilla.”

 

He made a face -- oh, even better than a hamster.

 

“You’ve gotta be shitting me,” Minghao muttered.

 

“ _ Look _ ,” the other boy started, his voice a good octave below either Minghao or Dino’s, “I swear I talked to Dokyeom this morning, and he agreed to look at Buttercup.”

 

“Its name is Buttercup?”

 

“ _ Her _ name is Buttercup,” the boy corrected. 

 

“Look, buddy, we only work with cats and dogs here. I can give you the phone number and address for our vet, who runs an animal clinic downtow--”

 

“--Hansol?” Dokyeom interrupted from behind them. Minghao and Dino spun around at the same time; apparently Dino was equally shocked that Dokyeom agreed to see a  _ chinchilla _ , of all things.

 

“You know this dude?” Minghao asked.

 

“Yeah, we spoke on the phone this morning,” Dokyeom explained, shifting his focus back to Hansol. “And I’m guessing this is Buttercup? Come on back.”

 

Hansol nervously smiled in response, and Minghao turned back toward Dokyeom. “Since when did we start seeing chinchillas, DK?”

 

“Right in here,” Dokyeom said, directing Hansol and Buttercup into the small examination room. Minghao’s de facto boss then turned his attention back to him: “Look, he couldn’t afford to go to the vet, and he sounded really worried.”

 

“Yeah, but you don’t even know how to  _ spell  _ chinchilla, not to mention medically examining one,” Minghao protested.

 

“C-H-I-N-C-H-I-L-A,” Dokyeom spelled, “and I’m taking a night class on rodent health this semester, Hao.” With that, Dokyeom turned around, heading to the examination room that Hansol and Buttercup were in.

 

“It’s two L’s, dumbass!” Minghao called out just as Dokyeom closed the door. Minghao shook his head and turned his attention to Dino: “I swear to god,” he complained.

 

Dino just smirked in response. “I’ll start tidying up the front while you finish your candy bar?”

 

“Oh, shit.” He ran back to the lounge, shoved the last third of the candy bar in his mouth, and threw out the candy wrapper, ramen cup, and spork before returning to the front. Dino had already moved onto tidying up the front area of the shelter, which doubled as a waiting room and play area. The couches were a little worn and had several tears on the cushions, but it was expected when you think about just how many meet-and-greets they facilitated in the front. Every time a visitor wanted to adopt a pet, they would have to sign in with the front and wait until either Minghao or Dino brought out the dog or cat they were interested in. They had cat toys in one bin and dog toys in another, and it was their job to supervise the adopter-adoptee interaction. Minghao explained it to Dino like this: it was as much about how the pet fit the adopter as the how the adopter fit the pet. Minghao and Dino were there to be the rescue’s advocate, to make sure that they wouldn’t just end up right back in the shelter because the adopter was a poor match. Minghao was perhaps the fiercest advocate. He hated having dogs and cats at the rescue longer than they needed to be there, but he thought it was even worse for a rescue to get a taste of rescued life just to return back to the gutter of shelter life -- or, even worse -- street life. It was heartbreaking. At least he and Dino could take care of them to the best of their ability.

 

By the time Minghao got back to the front, Dino had already picked up most of the toys and returned them to their respective baskets. Minghao picked up some of the worn-out pillows that were strewn about the floor… Dokyeom must’ve had a lot going on this morning. 

 

“Cats first?” 

 

Dino nodded in response, and they went to the back of the shelter together. 

 

“I’ll do social first,” Minghao announced. Dino nodded again.

 

It was so much easier when they had two people to work the cat room: one was the “social,” or the person who handled the cats, and the other was the “cleaner,” or the person who replaced the litter and refilled the water and food. Minghao was going to be the social first, which was arguably the better job. It was essentially five minutes of cat handling -- times six, until they switched. Usually they went smoothly.

 

Usually.

 

Minghao removed the first cat, a black-and-white tuxedo, and cradled her in his arms. She was dying for attention, pawing at Minghao’s face. Dino chuckled, dumping out the old litter into a waste bag. He pulled out the bag of fresh litter, and he refilled the mini litter box. Dino then grabbed the gigantic 25-pound bag of food, starting to pour out kibble into the tuxedo’s food bowl. Just then, Minghao heard the bell in the front ring, and he looked at Dino. Without missing a beat, the younger boy shoved the heavy bag of food into Minghao’s free hand and disappeared to go take care of the visitor at the front desk. Minghao wasn’t weak, but Dino gave him the bag at a weird angle, and he was forced to let it fall to the ground. Kibble spilled out everywhere, all of the cats were meowing, the tuxedo squirmed her way out of his arms -- it was a total mess.

 

“Why didn’t you put it on the ground, Dino,” Minghao muttered, massaging his temples. “No-no-no, don’t go for the kibble on the floor.”

 

The tuxedo was going straight for the kibble, the rest of the cats meowing up a storm. Minghao groaned, quickly picking up the tuxedo and throwing her in her cage. “One moment,” he whispered.

 

Minghao started scooping kibble up off of the ground, crouched over with the waste bag at his side.

 

“What happened here?” Dino asked from behind him.

 

Minghao sighed again. “ _ You _ happened.”

 

They made it to through the rest of the cats without incident (Dino was a little more timid with them, having been scratched one too many times), though Dino was reluctant to put away his last furry friend. She was the friendliest of the bunch and loved to nuzzle up her face into Dino’s while he was holding her. Honestly? It made Minghao so happy to have someone else around who loved cats and dogs as much as he did. He may have been all tattoos and piercings on the outside, but he was a big softie on the inside. Real jobs would never hire him, though. Dino put his last friend back in her cage once Minghao was done cleaning and refilling the food and water.

 

“I have to go study tonight, Hao-hao,” Dino announced, checking his phone. “I have an exam in two days, and I’m not ready for it.”

 

“Yeah, sure, I’ll take care of the rest,” Minghao replied. “Good luck if I don’t see you before then?”

 

Dino smiled in response, his eyes forming into little crescents. Dino went back to the lounge to grab his belongings, but not before pushing Minghao’s buttons: “You’re cute when you care, Minghao.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Minghao waved him off dismissively, turning his attention to the dogs. Before he could even get to the first one, her tail wagging in anticipation, he heard the bell ring at the front. “Already?” he murmured to himself.

 

“One moment!” he hollered to the front. He brushed off all the cat hair on his jacket and pants before moving out front where he could help who he hoped would be the last visitor of the day.

 

“Hey, how can I help yo…” His voice started trailing off as soon as he realized who he was talking to. “Junhui?”

 

“Minghao?” 

 

“What are  _ you _ doing here?” he asked, moving behind the front desk. Was he actually here to adopt? Or did he find out where Minghao spent most of his free time? How much did Junhui know about him?

 

“W-what are you doing here?”

 

Junhui seemed genuinely confused to see Minghao here, so maybe he really was just here to adopt?

 

“I asked first,” Minghao retorted. He kept his facial expression steady while Junhui just stood near the front door, seemingly still in shock.

 

“I… I was dropping off… an application. I wanted to a-adopt.”

 

“Hmmph,” Minghao replied. “I can take it.”

 

“O-oh, yeah, just give me a sec,” the taller boy murmured, putting his messenger bag down on one of the coffee tables near the couches.

 

Why?

 

Why here? Why now? Why him, of all people?

 

Why did Junhui have to be so goddamn cute all the time!? The way he stammered out responses, the way he fumbled through his bag looking for his application, the way he always seemed so nervous around Minghao… it was too much. He just wanted to scoop Jun up into a hug and not let go -- sure, Junhui might have been taller (and older, too, probably), but the way Junhui seemed to get so… timid? At least, he always seemed so unsure of himself around Minghao. Was that just how Junhui normally was? Or was Minghao special?

 

“Here you go,” Junhui said, interrupting Minghao’s train of thought. He was holding out his two-page application, and Minghao took it wordlessly. Looking through the app to make sure everything was filled out correctly, he couldn’t help but notice how… pretty Junhui’s handwriting was. It was free and elegant, just like how Junhui was when he walked through campus. Nothing like the Junhui right now, who stammered and stumbled through his words, sentences falling out in jumbles. Minghao set the paper down and looked up; Junhui looked away, like he had been watching him carefully before Minghao’s gaze met his. Maybe Junhui was just intimidated by him?

 

“Our administrator will look through this and call you once everything checks out. After that, you can come back and meet some potential rescues that we think match your application. Anything else?”

 

“You -- you never answered my question.”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“You work here?”

 

“Volunteer, actually,” he tersely corrected.

 

“Really?”

 

“Surprised?” 

 

“Y-yeah, kinda.”

 

Minghao sighed. Yes, surprise-surprise, the boy with tattoos, piercings, and leather jackets who slept through class also doodles cats and works at a shelter five days a week. Even if Junhui thought he was cool when he was a bona fide bad boy, he surely just thought he was a total loser now that his façade was falling apart. Ha, you thought Xu Minghao rode a motorcycle to school and hadn’t cried in eight years? Joke’s on you, he plays with kittens every other day.

 

“Alright, well, if that’s it--”

 

“--Actually, I did have a question about my application…” Junhui interjected, this time looking directly at Minghao with his big brown eyes. 

 

“Okay.”

 

“So, um, my apartment only allows me to have dogs that weigh under 30 pounds. Do you have any smaller dogs right now?”

 

Minghao ran through their current rescues in his head. He couldn’t help but start thinking about which of their current rescues would suit Junhui, which ones he would trust with someone like Junhui… which one would be happiest with Junhui.

 

“Yeah, I’d say we have at least three or four that are under 30 right now.”

 

Junhui just smiled in response. Minghao thought he was going to melt, but he couldn’t smile back. He knew Junhui was probably just being polite. 

 

“Thank you for your help,” Junhui finally replied. “And I guess I’ll see you in class on Thursday?”   
  


“Yeah, guess so.”

 

Junhui just smiled again, grabbed his messenger bag from the coffee table, and exited without another word, leaving Minghao alone with two-dozen rescues and a whole lot of feelings. The one thought he couldn’t shake? 

 

That he wasn’t good enough for Junhui.


	3. Junhui

Minghao wasn’t in class on Thursday.

Junhui slid into his seat in the back row, glancing over at Minghao’s empty spot. He wondered if it was his fault, somehow, if it was his fault because he’d pissed Minghao off twice earlier in the week without even meaning to. Without even knowing why. He was still staring into the void that he wished Minghao would fill, when two familiar voices sounded from nearby.

“Babe. _Babe._ I forgot my notes. Oh, my god, I spent hours writing all those notes last night and highlighting them and organizing everything, and I think I left it all on the kitchen table.”

Junhui looked up to the row of seats in front of him just in time to see Kim Mingyu digging through his backpack frantically, while his boyfriend Wonwoo watched with faint amusement next to him. Junhui decided to watch too, since Wonwoo didn’t look worried in the slightest. He looked positively _charmed_ by Mingyu’s minor freakout, actually. Par for the course for the two of them, Junhui thought to himself. They’d sat in front of him in more than one class, together, all semester, and they were basically the most domestic, most adorable couple Junhui had ever witnessed. Mingyu was forgetful and scatterbrained, but Wonwoo was always there to look after his hapless boyfriend, and Junhui had no doubt that’s what was occurring at that very moment.

Sure enough, Wonwoo let Mingyu panic for approximately another thirty seconds before he rescued him, as usual.

Just as Mingyu was tearing through his textbooks for a third time, Wonwoo calmly flipped open one of his binders and produced Mingyu’s aggressively highlighted notes, all ten pages of them, and plunked them on his boyfriend’s desk without a word. Mingyu froze, blinking at the small stack at papers, and by the time he looked back up at Wonwoo, they were both grinning, and it was completely disgusting, if Junhui was being honest.

He sighed, watching Mingyu give Wonwoo a kiss on the cheek as he gathered the pages up and shuffled them into a neater pile on his desk. “God. How do you guys even live with yourselves?” Junhui asked snarkily. He may have had a mega-sized crush on Minghao, but seeing real, live lovebirds shamelessly canoodling right in front of him was just reminding him of his epic failure with said crush thus far, and it was really bringing out his bitter side.

Mingyu laughed, cracking open the first of what Junhui knew would be a minimum of four sodas during this lecture hour. Wonwoo was drinking iced black coffee, as per usual. “Someone’s salty today,” was all Mingyu replied, but it was enough. Junhui _hrmphed_ and attempted to silently remove himself from the conversation, or something, but Mingyu wasn’t done. “Is this about Minghao?” he questioned next, and Junhui nearly choked on his own feelings.

_Words. His own words._

He spent a few moments trying not to blush beet red and trying to come up with something to say in response that wasn’t just an entire essay, nay, a _thesis_ about how cute Minghao was and how perfect his tragically rare smile looked and how much Junhui just wanted to do gross things like hold his hand and kiss his nose. In the end, he just went with a simple answer.

“No.”

 _Dammit._ Junhui knew that both Mingyu and Wonwoo heard his voice crack on the word.

Sure enough, Wonwoo was smirking. “You don’t have to lie to us, Jun,” he said, sipping his coffee through a long straw. “It’s like...glaringly obvious, at this point.”

Junhui sighed, feigning unnatural amounts of interest in his banana-shaped eraser. “How.” He didn’t make it a question, because he didn’t want to hear the answer. Naturally, he got it anyway.

Wonwoo sat forward, clearly prepared to make a convincing case. Junhui was aware that it was less than necessary. He was also aware that there was no stopping Wonwoo, when he wanted to grandstand. Wonwoo was generally one of the most quiet, reserved people Junhui had ever met, save for those rare occasions when he just Had Something to Say.

This was one of those occasions.

“Exhibit A,” Wonwoo began, lowering his voice slightly as the professor began the lecture at the front of the room.

Junhui honestly had no idea why he waited for it.

“Literal heart eyes every time Minghao is around. Especially when he says his daily two words to you. Poetic words like, ‘sup’,” Wonwoo announced.

Junhui declined to mention that he and Minghao had moved on to a slightly more expansive vocabulary, of late.

“Exhibit two,” Wonwoo continued.

“Exhibit B, babe,” Mingyu interjected, only to be waved off by Wonwoo.

 _“Exhibit two,_ ” he repeated, just for good measure, reaching forward to dig his hand into the side pocket of Junhui’s messenger bag, quite without permission, but for some reason, Junhui didn’t bother to stop Wonwoo as he yanked out Minghao’s drawing that Junhui had kept. He didn’t want to get into the reasons Wonwoo even knew about it. “Just. This,” he went on, a slight air of disdain coloring his voice as he presented it to his small audience.

Junhui didn’t argue.

“And finally, Exhibit D,” Wonwoo concluded, staunchly ignoring Mingyu’s frown of disapproval at his flawed numbering system, “Soonyoung told us, in Principles of Anatomy yesterday.”

Soonyoung had a big mouth, too many friends and acquaintances, and an extremely limited ability to keep a secret. It was an undeniable fact that had pained Junhui nearly every day of their ten-year friendship.

Junhui groaned, bending over his desk to bang his forehead against the cold tabletop. “God dammit, Soonyoung,” he muttered, mentally compiling his own list now, a list of ways he was going to get revenge on his roommate at his earliest convenience. While his head was still down, he felt an awkward pat or three on his back.

“There, there,” Wonwoo said sympathetically. He tried.

“I hate my life,” Junhui whined softly.

He picked up his head just in time to see Mingyu nodding sagely. “The College Experience.”

*

When the lecture finally ended, Junhui had no idea what it had really been about. He hadn’t been paying attention to begin with, but after his conversation with Wonwoo and Mingyu, he’d focused even less. Instead, he spent the rest of the class angrily texting Soonyoung about blabbing his private information to anyone who would listen, and using the whole situation as even more leverage to get him closer and closer to being allowed to adopt a dog. Pleasantly, it seemed to be working. At the very least, Soonyoung had stopped suggesting a gerbil as an acceptable compromise.

Junhui wandered out into the hallway, weaving his way through the mass of students heading into and out of the building in messy, informal clumps. He wasn’t really focused on that, either, until he glanced up from his phone and saw the last person he needed to have a run-in with, today.

“Mr. Wen,” came the low, authoritative voice from the man suddenly in front of Junhui, crossing his arms in vague disapproval in the middle of the emptying hallway.

Junhui sighed as quietly as he could, hiking his bag up on his shoulder and taking a few more small steps towards the voice. “Mr. Choi.”

The guidance counselor gave him a tight smile. “Are you free right now, Mr. Wen?”

Junhui was. He thought about denying it, until he realized that Mr. Choi could easily look up his class schedule anytime he wanted to. “I guess.”

Mr. Choi’s professional, grown-up smile softened a bit. “Great. I’d like to see you in my office,” he said, turning around and walking back in the direction of the administrative building, and Junhui followed, for some reason. He didn’t say anything else. He was mentally preparing himself for exactly what he knew was coming.

When they were halfway there, Mr. Choi turned his head and gave Junhui an even bigger smile. “And, I told you to call me Seungcheol, Mr. Wen.”

Junhui waited until he was facing forward again to roll his eyes. “Okay, Mr. Choi.”

He didn’t get a reply.

Nothing else was said at all, until they were seated in the counselor’s office. Mr. Choi wasn’t saying anything because he was staring at Junhui, fingers pointed together in a teepee and his elbows on his desk as he waited for him to acknowledge this impromptu meeting they were apparently having.

Junhui wasn’t saying anything because he was too busy gaping out the small window in Mr. Choi’s office, a window that provided a good view of the line of chairs in the hall, for people waiting to be seen.

A window that Junhui could absolutely, one hundred percent see Minghao out of, at that very moment.

He was sitting in one of the chairs, eyes closed and head back. Maybe he was sleeping, Junhui thought. He looked peaceful. Junhui was maybe kind of staring. He was in the middle of deciding whether or not he cared about that, when Mr. Choi cleared his throat expectantly, and Junhui remembered that he was here for a purpose that probably didn’t include ogling his obnoxiously handsome crush. Reluctantly, he turned his head away from Minghao and tried for a sheepish smile, meeting Mr. Choi’s eyes.

Mr. Choi sighed. “Junhui. How are your classes going?”

Junhui shrugged. “Fine, I think. Doing pretty well in everything at the moment.”

It was clearly a more succinct reply than Mr. Choi had been aiming for. He took a second to gather his next words, before he spoke. “It’s your second year here, Junhui.”

Junhui nodded slowly, trying to delay the inevitable direction this whole thing was taking. “Yup. That it...that it is.”

Mr. Choi pressed his lips together in a thin line. “You haven’t declared a major yet. You’re one of the only ones who hasn’t.”

Junhui blinked a few times. He was used to having this conversation with his parents, but Mr. Choi hadn’t tried outright more than once, so far. He thought about how to respond, what he could say that would acquit him from this whole situation and allow him to escape the guidance counselor’s office before Minghao disappeared.

“Uh…” Junhui started, his eyes wandering out to the hallway again. Minghao was sitting up in his chair now, eyes open and staring off into space. He looked soft and sleepy and wonderful, and Junhui wanted to hug him. However, even he wasn’t so far gone as not to realize the inappropriateness of such a gesture. Time and place were very important, really, and Junhui would definitely prefer the time and place of such an occurrence be much more private. More private, and possibly slightly more horizontal. Like, in Junhui’s bed, perhaps.

Anyway.

“Uh,” he said again, looking back towards Mr. Choi, who was giving him one of the more disapproving looks Junhui had seen out of him yet, and that was saying something. “I’ll. I’ll pick something soon, Mr. Choi. I’m just…experimenting. Right now. Trying to figure out what I like.”

Junhui didn’t realize that his gaze had drifted back to Minghao as he spoke the words.

Mr. Choi cleared his throat, forcing Junhui to at least attempt to focus once more. “Mr. Wen, I...look, I think it’s fine that you’re trying all sorts of different courses, I do. It can take a long time to really know what you want to do with your life and your education. But…” He paused, shuffling some papers on his desk and liberating one from the stack in front of him, perusing it momentarily. “You’re taking a philosophy class, a cooking class, History of Film, Beginner French, and Impressionist Painting, this semester.”

Junhui didn’t say anything.

Mr. Choi chuckled quietly, setting the paper down and rubbing at his eyes tiredly. “I mean...with a schedule like this, we do have a sister school in France…”

Junhui snorted. “I don’t want to move to fucking France,” he said, and then he stopped short, glancing up guiltily. Mr. Choi declined to reprimand him for his language, thankfully.

Junhui took a moment to think some more, think about whether there was anything he’d ever truly enjoyed doing more than anything else, apart from staring at Minghao’s tattoos and piercings and everything, this semester.

When Junhui was a kid, his parents had put him in a dance class. He’d learned the basics of ballet and modern dance for a few months. It was one of the first times in his young life he could remember vividly, could remember that he was absolutely ecstatic about something.

His parents also made him join the local children’s baseball team, and it was only a few weeks of _that_ before Junhui took a curveball to the knee (perhaps intentionally. He’d never admit that he hated the sport enough to purposely fall out), and the ensuing recovery time ended not only his short-lived sportsball career, but also his parents’ willingness to let him go back to dance class, lest he injure himself further.

Needless to say, whether or not Junhui’s injury was intentional, any sort of plan he may or may not have had to get out of baseball had pretty much backfired, in other, more upsetting ways.

Junhui fidgeted in his chair, frowning a little. “Look, I’ll figure it out by the end of the semester, all right? I will. I’ll be back in here with a clear plan and a decision. Just give me a little more time.”

Mr. Choi sighed for what seemed like the twelfth time in the last ten minutes and nodded, and he was about to reply, but Junhui interjected one last thought.

“And please, for the love of god, don’t send me to France.”

*

Bright and early on Saturday morning, Junhui practically skipped down the walkway of his apartment, towards Soonyoung’s car, where his roommate was already waiting in the driver’s seat, looking like he would rather be doing literally anything else than what was about to happen to him. Junhui threw the door open on his side of the car giddily, sliding into the seat next to Soonyoung and offering him a cookie, as a truce of sorts. Soonyoung rolled his eyes and grumbled about it for a moment, but he took the cookie. Junhui knew he would.

With the sweet treat wedged between his front teeth, Soonyoung guided the car down their street and towards the shelter. Neither of them spoke for the first few minutes of the drive, Junhui because he was too busy cooing over pictures of the dog he’d chosen from the small selection of ready-to-adopts at the shelter, and Soonyoung probably because he was still halfway plotting how to get out of this, if he could.

Finally, Junhui broke the quiet. “I think I want to name her Lilli. Isn’t that cute? I think it’s adorable. _Look how adorable,_ ” he demanded, shoving his phone at the side of Soonyoung’s face a little harder than he’d meant to, causing him to nearly swerve into the lane next to them. Soonyoung knocked the phone away with his elbow, swallowing what was left of his cookie and cursing under his breath.

“You’ve showed me those pictures every day since they were emailed to you, Jun. I know what the damn dog looks like,” Soonyoung muttered, jamming his blinker on and waiting for the light in front of them to turn.

Junhui pouted. “But you haven’t admitted that she’s _adorable_ yet,” he stressed, as Soonyoung groaned.

“Give me another cookie, you spoiled brat,” Soonyoung demanded, and Junhui complied, carefully situating a second baked good in his driver’s mouth so he could chew it up hands-free.

They went back and forth like that for the rest of the journey to the shelter, and Junhui was pretty positive that by the end, when he was extolling the virtues of a calm, clean, dependable breed like the dachshund, Soonyoung was almost sort of dipping a toe onto Team Lilli, which Junhui was the captain of, now and forever. Either way, they made it to the shelter without another traffic-related incident, and Junhui refused to allow Soonyoung to stay in the car while he completed the adoption, so off they went, towards the door of the building.

Junhui had been so excited for this, all week, that he’d nearly managed to forget that Minghao worked here. Volunteered here. Whichever.

Okay, that was a lie. He hadn’t _forgotten,_ per se. He’d just been distracted by the cutest lil’ ball of puppy fluff he’d ever seen, to remember in time.

He didn’t remember at all, until he was standing at the desk inside the shelter lobby, and Soonyoung was leaning against it, texting, probably bitching to whoever would listen about this whole situation, and Minghao was sitting behind that desk, staring at Junhui like he wasn’t sure what to do about any of it. He was staring at Junhui for a while, and then he was actively _glaring_ at Soonyoung, who wasn’t paying any attention at all, and Junhui really didn’t know why. He’d thought Minghao and Soonyoung were at least casual acquaintances, with nary a reason for one to try and set the other on fire with their eyes. It was strange, really.

Minghao didn’t seem to have anything to say, so Junhui tried for them both. “Uh. Hey, Minghao. I’m here for...I’m here to pick up...my dog?” Junhui phrased it like a question, although he didn’t know why. He’d phrased it like a question, but then halfway through his excitement had taken over again and his voice went up at the end and nearly cracked on it’s own mirth and frankly, he would have been a little more embarrassed about that, but he was _getting a dog,_ and that superseded basically anything else going on at the moment.

Soonyoung glanced up from his phone when he heard Minghao’s name leave Junhui’s lips, and he aimed a nod of recognition at Junhui’s crush. “Hey, man,” Soonyoung said, giving Junhui a knowing look that Junhui hoped to hell Minghao had somehow not seen. Thankfully, that was the last out of Soonyoung for the time being.

Minghao came out of his trance long enough to punch some keys on the keyboard in front of him, cursing quietly when the computer made a long beep. “Fuck. Uh. Sorry, Dokyeom usually does this part but he called in sick today so I’m trying to...I’m…” Minghao backed away from the computer as it made another loud noise of displeasure, turning his head to call out behind him. “Dino! Come here and make this thing do what I tell it to!”

Junhui just sort of watched while all of that happened, and Minghao alternated between staring at the ceiling and looking at the floor and tapping his foot, arms crossed, until a young guy Junhui could only hope was the Dino in question appeared from the back of the shelter. “Hey, guys!” he grinned, sliding in front of Minghao smoothly to sit at the computer. “Lemme just…” he murmured, typing quickly.

Junhui was still staring at Minghao, and he tried to stop himself from asking, he really did. It just...didn’t quite work.

“You weren’t in class on Thursday. Then I saw you in the administrative offices. I was a little worried, is everything okay?” he asked Minghao.

Minghao looked sort of stunned, like no one had ever wondered where he was before, no one had ever been concerned about his well-being. At the very least, like it had been a very long time. His mouth opened, then closed again. Nothing came out. He licked his lips as Junhui watched, clearly trying to formulate some sort of answer. Out of the corner of his eye, Junhui could see Dino still pecking on keys merrily, fixing whatever Minghao had broken.

When Minghao finally did reply, it was so quiet Junhui thought he might have just imagined it.

“I’m fine, Jun. I’m always fine.”

Minghao was blushing. He didn’t meet Junhui’s eyes after that, but Junhui did see him shoot Soonyoung another death glare or five, over the next minute or so until Dino finally got to where he needed to be, in the computer system.

“Right, then. Wen. Junhui. Adopting an 8-month old female dachshund, yes?”

Junhui snapped his head back to the conversation, nodding. “Yes, that’s right.”

Dino gave him a grin. “Awesome!” he exclaimed, and he sounded like he really meant it. “Minghao, why don’t you go grab the paperwork off the printer and start filling out our part?”

Minghao made some sort of grunt that Junhui really couldn’t decipher the meaning of, and left without another word.


	4. Minghao

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This update is going up one day early because I'm out of town this weekend! The next update will be at the usual time :D
> 
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated <333 ~ dyegu

Minghao stood impatiently in front of their slow-ass printer, waiting for the old piece-of-shit to spit out the 13 sheets of paper comprising Jun’s contract into his hands. It said it was still processing the data from the computer, whatever that meant.

It was stupid. He was stupid. He knew how to work the goddamn computer, he had done it a million times. Yeah, yeah, Dokyeom was usually the one to process adoptions, but it wasn’t like Minghao had never worked the computer before. How many dogs had he adopted out? At least a few dozen. And yet he couldn’t work the computer. It wasn’t like he _really_ needed Dino’s help for anything, considering he had done all of their jobs without Dino for the longest time. _Hell_ , he trained Dino how to use the computer, how to keep everything organized on their spreadsheets. He was off his game, and he knew exactly why.

The first piece of paper finally started feeding out of the printer, the pleasingly-warm paper falling limply into his waiting hand.

It was fucking Wen Junhui. Again.

He wished he was fucking Wen Junhui.

Fuck! No, he didn’t really mean that. Sure, Jun was tall and handsome and cute and caring and thoughtful and just about every other synonym in the thesaurus for “boyfriend.” But that didn’t mean that he wanted to do anything with him, and certainly that he didn’t want to be his boyfriend. He was over him. He had told himself to get over Junhui, and goddamnit it was going great until Junhui just had to walk into the shelter again with his tall-slash-cute-slash-caring-slash-thoughtful self. Why did Junhui have to care about him? Why couldn’t he just move on and let MInghao sort out his one and only problem.

Okay, that was a lie. It wasn’t just Junhui. It was Soonyoung too.

Minghao looked down: page 6/13. Shit, can’t this thing just, like, _not_ be a piece of shit?

God, _fuck_ Soonyoung.

Minghao could feel his blood starting to boil just thinking about his classmate. Soonyoung seemed okay enough when he met him at the dance studio -- they would, like, nod to each other, which is more acknowledgement than Minghao bothered with for most people. He was a good dancer, he gathered; Soonyoung had a mind for picking up choreographies fast. But all of that mutual okay-ness disappeared the second Soonyoung ruined the only good thing in his life right now, Junhui.

He knew it the second they walked in together: Junhui and Soonyoung were dating. There was no other viable explanation. Who the hell else do you bring along to adopt a dog with? Your parents, maybe -- if you’re 5. But if you’re 20? Your significant other, of course. He could tell that they were perfectly domestic, Soonyoung playing along with what Junhui wanted, which apparently was the cute Dachshund puppy that they rescued a few weeks ago. All they needed was the 2.5 kids in a few years and they’d be the ideal gay family.

Things like this didn’t usually bother Minghao. He didn’t care when Mingyu and Wonwoo practically made out in class with their stupid heart-eyes. But this was different -- because it involved Junhui.

To be perfectly honest, he was crushed when he saw Soonyoung walk in with Junhui, when it dawned on him what _they_ were, what _he_ would never be. Even now, he had this leftover sinking feeling knotted up in his stomach, like he was nauseous and lightheaded at the same time. Rationally, he knew it wasn’t Soonyoung’s fault, but he couldn’t help but get angry at Soonyoung for having the one thing that he wanted more than anything else right now. He wanted to be angry at Junhui. Why did he have to lead him on by being a good person when nobody else would? He wanted to be angry at him so badly, but he couldn’t. He just couldn’t. Even knowing that his snowball’s-chance-in-hell had been snuffed out by the existence of Soonyoung, even knowing that Junhui was probably never interested in him to begin with, even knowing that he would never, ever be good enough for an angel like Junhui, Minghao _still_ fucking stuttered when Junhui asked him if he was okay.

He doesn’t stutter! He doesn’t stutter, period. That’s right, Xu Minghao lives a life of conviction, of no (outward) regrets, of not stuttering.

Minghao groaned out loud. Why did he even care anymore?

“Um, Minghao,” Dino shouted from the front, “are those papers done printing yet?”

Shit. Minghao looked down, seeing his hand holding all 13 pages of Junhui’s contract to adopt his new puppy. He grabbed the contract, exited the lounge, and went back to the front desk where Dino seemed to be chatting up a storm with Junhui about puppies and training and probably a million other things. Dino probably had talked to Junhui more in the past five minutes than Minghao had talked to Junhui in the past five weeks.

“Sorry, paper jam,” he lied.

Dino sighed. “We really need to convince Dokyeom to buy the shelter a new printer.”

“Dokyeom?” Junhui asked.

Minghao tried to ignore them, instead scanning through the contract and marking all the places where Junhui had to sign.

“Yeah, Dokyeom. He’s the shelter’s administrator and vet tech, he basically runs the place. Ordinarily he’d walk you through this, but he’s out sick today. Which is why you’re stuck with me and Mopey.”

Minghao shot Dino a Look while Junhui just giggled. Why was Junhui’s giggling so goddamn adorable, shit.

“Luckily, Dokyeom looked… Lilli?”

“Lilli,” Junhui affirmed. Lilli… what a cute name, Minghao thought.

“ _Lilli_ over for any medical problems yesterday,” Dino continued. “And, good news! She’s a perfectly healthy eight-month-old dachshund puppy. Cuteness very much included.”

“Did you hear that Soonyoung?” Junhui mused. Minghao perked up at the mention of Soonyoung and saw Junhui looking back over at his boyfriend. “Cuteness is included!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Soonyoung dismissively muttered, going back to texting on his phone. What an asshole.

“Don’t mind him,” Junhui explained, “it took me weeks to get him to agree to this.”

“' _Agree’_ is a strong word,” Soonyoung interjected. “ _Coerce_ is more accurate.”

“Oh shut up.”

“Bullied?”

“Ahem,” Minghao interrupted. Dino seemed like he was enjoying the back-and-forth between Junhui and his… his _boyfriend_ ; he had his signature toothy smile. But all Minghao wanted was it for to stop, to get this all over with. It worked -- all eyes were on him, including Junhui’s discerning-yet-soft dark brown orbs.

“So, I’ve finished preparing your contract,” he started, turning the stack of papers around to Junhui. “Once you sign, she’s all yours, conditional on the short meet-and-greet going well. I’ll walk you through the contract now.”

Junhui looked up from the first page and nodded, a slight smile creeping across his face.

“Do you have a pen?”

“Y-yeah,” Minghao replied, his voice cracking ever-so-slightly. He was sure Dino -- _and Junhui_ \-- caught it because they both made a face. Shit.

“Here,” he spat out, taking extra care to get all of that out without sounding like a prepubescent boy standing in front of his crush. Goddamnit, he was a post-pubescent boy!

“The first page outlines the adoption fee. Because of a recent generous donation from a member of the community, all adoption fees have been waived for a few months. However, if you decide to bring her back for whatever reason, we will have to charge a $100 re-housing fee. Sign at the bottom.

“The second page says that, in the event that you can no longer take care of her, you _will_ bring her back to us instead of leaving her on the street. At the very least if you’re going to break her heart, leave her in a good place.”

Minghao felt Dino punch him on the shoulder, making a confused face that was no doubt asking _why the hell did you say that?_ Honestly, he wasn’t sure what made him say it; he just felt like he had to. Deep down, underneath all of the crushing-on-Junhui feelings that _definitely did not just make his voice crack a minute ago,_ he felt bitter. A disgusting kind of bitter that came in waves, crashing into his psyche and making him nauseous just thinking about how Junhui was never going to be his.

Shit, Jun was staring at him.

“Uh, okay, so you signed that page. The next three pages say that, in the event of a health emergency, you will seek immediate medical care for the puppy. In addition, you promise to schedule regular vet appointments. Sign at the bottom of page six.

“Finally, the last seven pages are just some pointers about training puppies. We make you sign to acknowledge that you’ve read those parts of the contract, but you can read it later if you want.”

“It’s really a good idea to read them!” Dino piped up. “They have some good advice about breaking bad habits, building good ones, potty training, and so on.”

“Oh, cool~” Junhui sing-songed, signing the last empty space and looking up at Dino with an eye smile. Minghao just watched as Dino smiled back -- God, why does Literally Anyone Else have a more functional relationship with Junhui than him? Why is he such a loser?

“You can also have all…” Dino started, pulling out a few brochures they had behind the desk, “...of these!”

Junhui seemed a bit overwhelmed -- Dino gave him, like, seven mini-booklets on everything from grooming to puppy exercise to dog-proofing your rooms. It was undeniably _cute_ , Junhui kinda internally freaking out about what he was getting into.

“It’s okay, I’m sure you’ll do great,” Minghao softly added.

Dino immediately gave him another look, this one also saying _why the hell did you say that?_ Minghao was more focused on Junhui, though, who looked at him, then down and away, a light shade of pink creeping across his cheeks. Was he blushing?

“Um, I’ll go grab the puppy. Dino, do you want to make copies of the contract for Junhui?”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Dino awkwardly responded, but Minghao was already halfway to where they kept the dogs.

Once Minghao knew he was alone, he let out a long sigh, trying to exhale all of the stupid feelings that were bubbling up randomly over the past fifteen minutes. It was stupid, how was he this dysfunctional around Junhui? Why couldn’t he just keep it together? One minute he was upset, loathing himself for not being good enough, hating Junhui for being too good for him; the next minute he was back in love, fawning over every cute thing about Junhui -- why couldn’t his brain just pick one!?

Why couldn’t he just hate Junhui like he was supposed to now?

His feet had stopped on their own in front of the eight-month old dachshund’s pen. No, that wasn’t a euphemism, too. The same anonymous benefactor who helped them waive adoption fees for several months also donated enough to renovate their pet enclosures, making them slightly larger and friendlier. Sure, it was still a kennel in the strictest sense of the word, but each pup had at least double the amount of space that they used to have, soft beds to sleep on, a few toys to gnaw on. It was still shelter life, but it was better than most.

The puppy he was here for seemed excited to see him. She had only recently been picked up by their shelter, and, like any puppy, she was quickly adopted by none other than Wen Junhui. She still had that puppy innocence when she came in, and Minghao tried his best to keep it alive, even though he knew shelter life was hard. It’s hard to go from having something to having nothing. Luckily for this puppy, her tail wagging with excitement and her big eyes staring at Minghao expectantly, everything was about to get a lot better. She was about to get rescued, a word they reserved for when the deal was done, for when their cats and dogs finally found a home.

Minghao didn’t even bother unpinning the gate to the puppy’s enclosure, instead leaning over and scooping her up. He also reached over toward her bed and grabbed what he assumed was her favorite toy (it was the most chewed-up one at the very least). It was shaped like a dog, fluffy, and covered in dried-up dog slobber. She was secure in his arms, but she kept wiggling, trying to get an angle at Minghao’s face to attack him -- with her tongue.

He walked back to the front, and he watched as Junhui’s eyes lit up with excitement and wonder. God, his heart ached thinking about how much he wanted that look to be for him. He circled the front desk and put the puppy down near Junhui. She was excitable, quickly scampering over toward Junhui with her short legs and sausage-like body. Junhui crouched down to her level and immediately picked her up, giving her pets all over while trying to avoid her tongue-attacks at his own face.

“Hi Lilli!” Junhui exclaimed, his voice an octave higher -- you know, the puppy voice that everyone has. Junhui’s was absolutely adorable.

“I have a treat for you, Lilli,” he added, fishing into his pocket and pulling out a small plastic bag with a few bone-shaped goodies in it.

“Did you bring food for everyone this morning?” Soonyoung asked. Minghao hadn’t noticed, but apparently Soonyoung was suddenly interested in what was happening, hovering near Junhui and the puppy.

“Sorry, Soonyoung, you’re not special,” Junhui clapped back, the rest of his attention devoted to Lilli.

“Guess I’ll need to find a new cuddling partner,” the shorter boy deadpanned. Junhui rolled his eyes.

Damn. That one hurt. Minghao felt his heart sink.

“You can play with the toys if you want!” Dino interrupted from behind, holding both copies of the contract.

“Okay!” Junhui, Soonyoung, and Lilli all moved to the opposite end of the room where all the toys and couches were, leaving Dino and Minghao at the front desk alone.

“What’s this?” Dino asked, setting the contract down and picking up the dog plush Minghao had picked up from the puppy’s -- _Lilli’s_ \-- old pen.

“Her favorite toy,” Minghao dryly responded. He didn’t want to care about what happened anymore.

“Are you okay?” Dino asked. He must have picked up on it, but Minghao wasn’t having any of it. Not even Dino’s worried expression, not even Dino, his closest friend, could break him right now.

“Fine,” he muttered. Minghao took off his leather jacket; it was suddenly hot, and he couldn’t stand it.

He and Dino sat there in silence, watching Junhui play fetch with Lilli. She looked so happy, so full of life -- it was probably the happiest Minghao had seen her, ever. He was happy for her, even through all the bitterness.

Junhui looked happy, too.

God, he’s so cute.

“What?”

Minghao looked over at Dino, who suddenly looked amused.

“Hmm?”

“You just said something.”

He looked back with a confused look. What was he talking about?

“ _He’s so cute_ ,” Dino parroted. “Did you mean she?”

Shit. That wasn’t just a thought? He actually said it? _And Dino heard it?_ Shit shit shit.

“U-um, yeah,” he sheepishly croaked out, it sounding more like a question than an answer. Dino’s eyes sparkled knowingly, like he could read right through his half-assed response. Luckily they were out of earshot of Junhui, who was too busy playing with Lilli to notice anything.

“You like Junhui, don’t you?” Dino whispered. Minghao had half a mind to smack that smirk off his face.

“No,” he flatly denied.

“Don’t lie to me, Hao-hao. You can’t lie to me.”

“I’m not lying.”

“Yes, you are!” Dino whisper-shouted, his smirk getting even more smackable.

“And how do you know that.”

“Because you’re trying your best not to show any emotion, Hao-hao.”

“Or maybe I don’t feel anything.”

“If it wasn’t true, you’d have said something snarky and mean by now.”

“Do you want me be snarky and mean?”

“And you’re trying to deflect, too.”

“Or maybe it’s just not true, and I’m telling you it’s not true, and pretty soon my hand will be telling your face that it’s not true.”

“You wouldn’t hit me!”

“Oh? You think so?”

“Maybe I’ll just tell Junhui that you like him…” Dino mused, glancing over at Junhui and Lilli.

“Do that and you die,” Minghao darkly warned, his voice barely audible.

“So you _do_ like Junhui!”

“Enough,” Minghao warned again. He clenched his fist. Don’t push it, Dino.

“I _have_ to tell him because you never will~”

“Enough!” Minghao shouted, slamming his fist down on the desk. “Stop pretending that you know me! Stop pretending that you know anything about me, that you know anything about what it’s like to be me, that you know anything about what I’m feeling! You don’t know anything, Dino. You’re a kid, you have no fucking clue what you’re talking about. You think this is fun, and it’s not! You’re a pain in the ass, and you need to shut the fuck up.”

By the time Minghao had finished his tirade, Dino looked hurt. Beyond hurt. He looked like he was about to cry. Minghao didn’t care -- the punk deserved it.

“I -- I’m sorr--”

“I don’t care,” Minghao interrupted. “I’m leaving.”

With that, Minghao aggressively leapt out of his chair and stormed out the back, stomping through the lounge to the back exit.

*

This was the second time in a month that Minghao ended up at this spot.

He was cold -- fucking cold. He left his jacket at the shelter, leaving him in nothing but a tank top, his arms bare and cold air creeping along his chest and back. It wasn’t raining, and that was probably the only good thing that happened today. Yup, that’s right: the only good thing that happened today is that the weather wasn’t even shittier than it already was. His head was pounding; he wanted to think about anything other than Dino and Junhui and Soonyoung and his shitty life.

Minghao was sitting against one of the brick buildings at the street corner where he used to perform. Yeah, that street corner that was right next to the convenience store. Back during his street-performer days, this was his spot, or, more accurately, His Spot. He basically owned it. This is where he learned his dancing skills, where he learned to B-boy just about anything his body could handle. He used to make good money, too. He was so good that the police didn’t even bother to kick him out; he was part of the area, an attraction for tourists to gawk at.

He didn’t perform alone. Minghao had a partner, a boy with long-ish blonde hair who would sing at the same spot. He was fiercely territorial about His Spot, but this boy was so good that Minghao couldn’t pass up the extra money that he earned by teaming up with him. It seemed like ages ago; he hadn’t seen Jeonghan in two years.

“Minghao?”

Fuck.

“Is that really you?”

Minghao looked up. It really was him; even after all this time, he instantly recognized him, his voice. His hair was shorter and black now, but the soulful eyes that Jeonghan had were still the same. Minghao didn’t bother with a response, he didn’t even know where to begin.

“What are you doing out here? Especially wearing only _that_?” Minghao could hear the disdain about the tank top seeping through his tone.

“Why does it matter to you?”

Jeonghan sighed. He unzipped his jacket, shedding the bulky layer off his frame and placing the jacket on Minghao’s shoulders. He wanted to protest, but Jeonghan had already sat down next to him, and his jacket was so warm.

“I see you got a new tattoo,” Jeonghan commented. “An infinity symbol? On your back? I could see it underneath your tank top,” he added.

Minghao rolled his eyes. “Why does it matter to you?” he repeated.

“It matters to me because you matter to me, Minghao.”

“Didn’t matter to you two years ago.”

Jeonghan didn’t respond immediately; he was right next to him, he wasn’t moving, but he also wasn’t saying anything.

“What happened, Minghao?”

“ _Nothing_.”

“C’mon, Hao.”

No, he wasn’t going to tell him.

“Look,” Minghao started, looking over at Jeonghan. “You don’t really care, you didn’t really care, stop pretending that you care because I don’t care, and please just leave it alone.”

This time Jeonghan let the silence awkwardly settle between them for a few minutes. Jeonghan was always careful with his words. Minghao considered leaving, but didn’t know where he would go -- certainly not back to the shelter. He looked back down at the cement underneath him.

“Minghao, I do care. I’ve always cared. Do you know how I found you here?”

He shook his head in response. Minghao was sulking, but he didn’t care.

“Hao, I’ve come here every week for the past two years. Looking for you. I was so worried when you disappeared, when you stopped showing up. I know you were, and probably still are, upset at me about signing to that label. I pushed so hard for them to sign you too. They wouldn’t budge, and, honestly Hao? I couldn’t pass up the opportunity, despite how much I cared about you. It was my dream, and I thought you’d support me and I’d support you. It hurt when you pushed me away instead of talking to me about it. And--”

“--What was I supposed to tell you, Jeonghan? That I loved you?”

Minghao was seething, upset, bitter, confused, all of the above, a cornucopia of emotions. It was two years ago; he had gotten over it a long time ago, but it felt so raw right now. Especially with what was happening with Junhui. He could feel his voice breaking, his eyes glossing up with tears.

“And now I’ve gone and done it again and fallen in love with someone else who I can’t tell.”

Minghao looked over at Jeonghan again. Jeonghan didn’t look shocked. He just looked… like he knew. Like he had figured out what had happened after all these years.

“Hao, why don’t you come over tonight? You don’t have to say anything -- or you can say everything -- but I can’t let you stay out here by yourself. Especially in the cold.”

He wanted to say no. But when the first tear started rolling down his cheek, Jeonghan scooted closer to him, pulling Minghao toward him for a side-hug. He was really trying to fight the tears, but being here with Jeonghan made him feel so weak. Jeonghan didn’t say anything; he just let Minghao get his tears out, rubbing his shoulder while Minghao choked out muffled sobs.

A few minutes after Minghao managed to pull it together a little, Jeonghan helped him up.

“Come on, let’s go.”

Minghao didn’t protest.


	5. Junhui

It was just a casual guess, really, an estimate pulled out of the sky and definitely not decided through hours and hours of intense, unending thought about the subject. It was just a casual guess, but Junhui was pretty sure Minghao hadn’t spoken a word or even looked at him in nearly three weeks. Not since the day at the shelter, when Junhui had adopted Lilli.

He hadn’t acknowledged Junhui was alive in exactly nineteen days, two hours, and forty-six minutes.

Approximately. Junhui absolutely had not spent any time adding that up on an actual, real-life calculator.

He had a life, after all. Even if that life was upsettingly empty, without even the small bit of communication Minghao and he had shared.

The only thing Junhui really had now was Lilli. The small dachshund had become Junhui’s entire world of late, and he didn’t regret it at all. He spent every second he wasn’t in his classes playing with her, teaching her tricks, walking her, and generally just cooing at/around her on a loop. At first, Soonyoung had been openly aghast about all of it. He didn’t like dogs, he didn’t like Lilli, and he didn’t like this new situation Junhui had gotten him into. But slowly, so slowly that Junhui might not have noticed it if he didn’t suddenly have all kinds of extra time that allowed him to pay close attention...things began to change.

Outwardly, Soonyoung didn’t like Lilli. But, when he thought Junhui wasn’t looking, that wasn’t exactly the case.

At least twice, Junhui had caught his roommate petting the dog. That, on it’s own, might have been enough of a Happening to raise alarm.

But it didn’t end there.

Soonyoung began to bring home a variety of leftovers from the campus cafeteria, tucked into paper napkins and shoved into his pockets, and while Junhui really wanted to comment on the sanitation issues there, he didn’t, because every time it occurred, Soonyoung would pull the half a dinner roll or small helping of cooked carrots out of his pocket and toss it on the counter, then say casually, “Oh, I guess I forgot I had this. You can give it to Lilli if you want,” then walk away before Junhui could subject him to any questioning.

Not that he needed to. The action was admission enough.

Anyways, Lilli was his whole life, and Soonyoung maybe didn’t hold as much of a grudge against her as he pretended he did, so things were pretty okay in Junhui’s world. As long as he didn’t spend too much time obsessing over the weight of the Minghao Problem, it was good. Admittedly, he wasn’t doing _that_ great in his classes. But honestly, when had he ever? Wen Junhui was a master at Getting By. He’d done it all his life, the bare minimum, just good enough to not be noticed. It was one of the things that pained his parents the most. They would constantly remind him how smart he was, how much _potential_ he had, how very much he was squandering it by not really trying at his education.

By the time he got to high school, Junhui had run out of ways and willpower to try and explain to them that just because he was smart, didn’t mean he had any idea what he wanted to do with all that intelligence. Hopefully, he had at least another year of taking random, bullshit classes left before he would really have to figure everything out. It was problem for Future Junhui, really. Present Junhui was busy.

Busy _spectacularly bombing his midterms._

He studied. A little. Junhui spent at least half an hour or so the morning of each exam cramming information into his head while he crammed breakfast into his face. He got an acceptable return on his Impressionist Painting practical. History of Film wasn’t a total wash. But Beginner French, Prob and Conf, and Principles of Pastry Decoration? Shit. Actual piles of excrement, his grades. Junhui was especially ashamed about Pastry Decoration. He’d mixed the royal icing all wrong, three times in a row, and then he didn’t have enough of each ingredient left for a redo, so he was stuck with runny royal, and the result was an exceptionally sad looking, melty wedding cake. Junhui had tried to convince his professor that it was a metaphor, for the way love eventually becomes a puddle of all the expectations and excitement one had at the beginning of a relationship.

Actually, Junhui spent an embarrassingly long time pleading his case to the T.A., the one and only Lee Jihoon, object of Soonyoung’s previously mentioned, ill-advised crush. He’d cornered Jihoon on his way out of class, and Jihoon stood there uncomfortably for three-quarters of an hour while Junhui likened his oozy, upsetting wedding cake to the way Love Always Dies.

He was maybe projecting. Just a bit. That didn’t make his point any less valid, Junhui figured.

“It’s just like...it’s like…” Junhui fumbled, somewhere around the forty-four minute mark, “It’s like when you just try so hard to be nice to someone, because they’re special, right? You try really hard, you try to, um...mix your ingredients right and not say dumb shit, I mean, not make bad frosting, or whatever…” He couldn’t even look at Jihoon anymore. Junhui stared at the ground instead. He was aware that he should probably stop, that this was all extremely futile. But he had pride, dammit. Pride, an overwhelming need to not fucking fail this exam, and also, lots more projecting to wade through.

“And you do all that trying, until you’re so tired you can’t try anymore, and anyway, they won’t even fucking give you the time of day in class...or...um...y’know, the sugar...won’t...it won’t mix with the...the spice…” Junhui trailed off. He was finally done, maybe. At the very least, he had maybe said enough insane things to make Jihoon take pity on him and talk to the professor. Hopefully.

Jihoon had his arms crossed when Junhui glanced up again. He was a short guy, but he could pack enough intimidation into his gaze to bring down a whole gaggle of jacked weightlifters with barely a word. It was moderately terrifying, honestly. Anyway, Jihoon’s arms were crossed and he was staring at Junhui, but to Junhui’s surprised, he didn’t look angry, or annoyed, or like he was secretly recording every word of Junhui’s brain vomit to use against him later.

He looked concerned. And faintly confused, but Junhui sort of vaguely remembered most of what he’d just said, and that was to be expected, really.

Junhui huffed out a shaky breath, his eyes stinging. He didn’t really realize the rest of him was shaking, either, until tears started to roll down his cheeks, the kind of warm, angry tears that weren’t really sad, but more just made of sheer frustration. He was _so_ frustrated, with himself and his classes and the situation with Minghao. It was just too much, suddenly.

At least they were the only ones left in the classroom. Small mercies.

When Junhui started crying, it was quiet enough that he could still hear Jihoon mutter, “Good _god,_ ” before an awkward arm circled his shoulder. Briefly, Junhui wondered how Jihoon could actually _reach_ his shoulder, but Jihoon was trying to comfort Junhui, and he appreciated it, so he stowed away the height jokes for the time being.

Also, Jihoon had the potential to make or break his midterm grade. There was that.

Jihoon pulled his arm back after a few moments, clearing his throat. Junhui continued to focus on every crack in the floor, trying to get his emotions under control. Neither of them said anything for a while.

Finally, Jihoon sighed. “Come on,” he said firmly, dragging Junhui out of the room and down the hall by his arm, and Junhui let him.

*

Junhui didn’t really pay attention to the journey. He was mostly just trying to shrink in on himself as much as possible as Jihoon pulled him along, out of the culinary arts building and across the campus quad and then off-campus entirely, and by the time they got to the little boba shop right on the edge of the university, frequented by students and teachers alike, Junhui had managed to stop crying like a baby.

He came back to himself a little bit in the shop, standing behind Jihoon as he ordered two drinks authoritatively, sat Junhui down at a table and then went back to wait for their order. Junhui didn’t want boba. He wasn’t hungry, or thirsty, even though he felt empty inside. He didn’t know what Jihoon was trying to do, or why. As far as Junhui knew, Jihoon had never been nice to a single person or student in his entire life.

To his extreme and eternal surprise, when Jihoon returned with their order, he gave Junhui a friendly smile, pushing one drink to Junhui’s side of the table. Junhui stared at it, then back at Jihoon. He felt light-headed.

“So. Tell me about the guy,” Jihoon said, and holy shit, he _sounded_ friendly. He sounded like any number of Junhui’s friends. Junhui remembered that they were close in age, closer than Jihoon usually made it seem. Maybe Jihoon was someone Junhui could actually talk to. An impartial party. More impartial than Soonyoung, for sure. Every time Junhui tried to talk to his best friend about the Minghao Situation, Soonyoung just told him to grow a pair and work it out with Minghao himself. It was rich, coming from someone too afraid to talk to his own crush, the T.A. currently sitting across from Junhui at this very moment.

Junhui frowned a little, peeling the wrapper off his straw and stabbing it into the lid, although he still wasn’t thirsty. It was something to do.

“What guy,” he said, unwilling to make it into a question, if only so he wouldn’t be required to provide an answer.

Jihoon quirked an eyebrow, but didn’t reply. Junhui frowned harder.

They got sort of locked into a spontaneous, nonverbal stalemate after that, Junhui because he didn’t want to talk about Minghao, and Jihoon probably because he wasn’t much of a talker to begin with. For a few minutes, the only sounds at their table were quiet slurps of boba. It was awkward.

Finally, Junhui gave up.

“It’s Xu Minghao. Xu Minghao is ruining my life.”

Jihoon didn’t say anything, which Junhui interpreted as an open invitation to continue babbling.

“He’s ruining my life, and now he’s ruining my grades because I _physically cannot stop_ thinking about him all the time. I pissed him off somehow, right, I don’t even know how, and now he won’t even talk to me or look at me in our one class together. He still sits right next to me, but it’s like there’s this giant _wall_ between us.” Junhui paused to take a breath and a gulp of boba. It was good. Maybe he was thirstier than he thought.

“And I know it’s stupid, I really do. But knowing is one thing and life is another thing. Y’know?” Junhui asked, raising his head to meet Jihoon’s eyes.

Jihoon chuckled a little. “I know, Junhui.”

Junhui sighed. “It’s just. I like him so much. _Sooooooooo_ much. And I don’t know what to do now. I don’t know what I’m _allowed_ to do. And clearly…it’s starting to affect other things.”

“Clearly,” Jihoon echoed.

Junhui rolled his eyes. “Shut up.”

Jihoon’s raised eyebrow went even higher this time. “I partially control your Pastry Decoration grade, may I remind you.”

Junhui frowned harder. “Amended to ‘be quiet’. Sorry.”

Jihoon smiled a little wryly. “I’m just messing with you. Listen, Jun…”

Junhui listened. Jihoon seemed much wiser than he was.

“I don’t have a lot more experience or knowledge than you do about this stuff. Love, or whatever,” Jihoon mused. “But I do know this. It’s easier than it seems. All of it. Our brains have a tendency to make everything seem like the worst, but it’s not. I don’t know much about Minghao, to be honest. Not more than what I’ve heard from a few professors. But the general consensus seems to be that he’s fundamentally an alright guy. A little rough around the edges, sure, but probably soft in the middle. Not unlike a cream puff,” Jihoon finished, smirking.

Junhui honestly wasn’t sure if that was an adorable metaphor, or a remarkably suggestive one. He decided on the first option, if only for his own sanity.

“If he’s being distant, he’s probably dealing with things in his own life that are taking up most of his brain power. Maybe you’re one of them, maybe you’re not. You’ll have to work that out for yourselves. The problem is, you’re making _him_ take up most of _your_ brain power, and it’s tanking your grades, and, Jun...no guy is worth throwing your education away for. I promise you that much.” Jihoon said sagely, and Junhui sighed.

“It’s not like I’ve even settled on a proper education at this point,” he muttered despairingly.

Jihoon shrugged. “You’ve got time.”

Junhui snorted. “Mr. Choi doesn’t seem to think so.”

Jihoon rolled his eyes. “I’ll talk to Mr. Choi. He’s not nearly as scary as he seems,” he said with a laugh.

Junhui took another few sips of his drink, considering that. “Neither are you,” he said finally, and Jihoon smiled.

“I know. It’s my deepest, darkest secret, and I’d like to request that you never tell anyone, please.”

Junhui laughed too, for the first time that day. It felt good. It felt, like, cleansing. At the very least, he could breathe again, without it descending into a sob. He finished off his boba, reveling in the sweet taste for a moment, and thinking. Thinking of how Jihoon usually came off to everyone, versus how he was right now. Thinking about Soonyoung and his poor, neglected crush. Remembering his end of the bargain they’d made, when Junhui was on his quest to adopt a dog.

Soonyoung had made him a sheet of topics he was allowed to discuss with Jihoon, when he got around to it. He’d even laminated it, and made it small enough that Junhui could carry it around in his pocket. He’d reminded Junhui _not_ to go off book at least ten times since their first conversation about it.

Junhui went off book.

“You know, my roommate has a massive crush on you,” he said, scooping tapioca out of the bottom of his open cup with a spoon and into his mouth.

Jihoon snorted. “Who’s your roommate?” he asked, and Junhui could tell he was trying hard to sound casual.

“Kwon Soonyoung,” Junhui replied, nonchalantly stabbing the tapioca with his straw now. He didn’t look up for a moment, giving Jihoon time to absorb this information. Junhui hoped to hell he even knew who Soonyoung was.

He knew.

When Junhui glanced up again, Lee Jihoon, the Meanest T.A. in the whole university, was blushing.

Junhui didn’t say anything. He let it sit for a while.

“Oh,” Jihoon managed after a long moment. “Oh. That’s. Um...that’s...cool.”

Internally, Junhui rejoiced gleefully. “Do you know him?” he asked casually, even though it was glaringly obvious that Jihoon did.

“Uh. Maybe? I might. I think maybe I’ve seen him before. Or...maybe he’s in one of the classes I’m assisting with this semester. I dunno. I might.” Jihoon stammered the words out. Junhui felt like cackling. Soonyoung was going to _die._

“He seems nice,” Jihoon murmured, almost dreamily. Even Junhui could not have expected this good of an outcome. But, if he was going to be honest with Jihoon, he needed to stop him right there.

“He’s alright when he wants to be,” Junhui said. “Not unlike you.”

Jihoon blushed more. “Shut up.”

Junhui snickered. “I think you mean _‘be quiet’_.”

*

Junhui tried not to think too much more about Minghao, after he left the boba shop. He did pretty well, comparatively. Compared to the last few weeks, anyway. He spent long enough considering the situation to come up with a plan for the next step. Junhui needed to go back to the shelter, to catch Minghao outside of class, where he (probably) couldn’t run away or avoid talking to him completely. That made it sound like something of an ambush, Junhui was aware, but he was going to be gentler than that. Nicer. He didn’t want to scare Minghao. He just wanted to know what he’d done wrong, and how to fix it. So, even though things were going spectacularly with Lilli so far, and Junhui was proving to be a great dog dad (even surprising Soonyoung, who was still convinced that he’d end up being responsible for the dog after a while), he invented a reason or twelve to visit the shelter that weekend, a short list of things he needed “help” with.

Speaking of Soonyoung, Junhui had decided not to tell him about his run-in with Jihoon. Not yet. Knowing his best friend, the information would only serve to throw Soonyoung right off his game, to the point where he would make an ass of himself in front of his crush.

Should they happen to meet.

Junhui felt it was very likely, at that point.

Anyway, he waited until Sunday morning before he worked up the nerve to go to the shelter. Junhui was strangely proud of his own restraint. First thing on Sunday morning, he got up and got Lilli ready to go, shepherding her into her carrier and letting them out into the hallway of the apartment building. He had just finished locking the door of his apartment, when Junhui’s ears (and poor Lilli’s, by extension) were subjected to one of the highest pitched shrieks Junhui’d ever had the displeasure of experiencing.

When Junhui managed to stop cringing and holding Lilli’s carrier to his chest protectively long enough to seek out the source of such a noise, there stood Boo Seungkwan, Junhui and Soonyoung’s neighbor two apartments down, staring at Lilli in abject horror.

“What...exactly...is that?” Seungkwan managed to choke out through his extremely palpable fear and dismay. Junhui definitely felt like he was maybe overreacting, just a bit.

Junhui glanced down at Lilli in her small carrier, peeking out of the front timidly.

“Uh. It’s a dog, Seungkwan.”

That much should have been obvious.

Seungkwan removed his hand from his chest, where it had flown when he’d gotten a scare from the least menacing dog in existence. “Yes, but... _why_??” he questioned next.

Junhui tried not to make his eyeroll too pointed. “Because I wanted one.”

Seungkwan made a noise of distaste. “Well, there’s no accounting for taste, I guess.”

Junhui didn’t answer.

“You know what’s a great pet?” Seungkwan asked. Junhui still didn’t answer, because he knew he didn’t have to. Seungkwan was going to continue either way.

“A _chinchilla._ They’re so clean and cute and fun and _quiet_. You should really look into a chinchilla, Jun.”

Junhui blinked. “‘Kay.”

Seungkwan didn’t go on, so Junhui made an attempt at small talk. “Anyway, how’s things?”

Seungkwan rolled his eyes dramatically. “Oh, y’know. The life of a pre-med. Don’t sleep. Don’t eat. Always interning! Or in class, I guess. I haven’t quite decided which branch I’m going down, yet. I sat in on a few surgeries last week. I didn’t really know there’d be so much blood, Jun.”

Junhui fought the urge to guffaw. “Yeah, I...I’d imagine there would be.”

Seungkwan’s eyes glazed over a little, his gaze far away. “Just...so much blood…”

Junhui lifted himself off the wall. “Okay, well...I gotta go, Seungkwan. Good luck with all that blood, yeah?”

Seungkwan seemed to shake himself out of his waking nightmare. “Yeah. Thanks, Jun. See you later. Good luck with your beastie, there.”

As Junhui walked away, he whispered to Lilli, “Don’t worry, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. You’re the most beautiful puppy in the entire puppy world, and no amount of Boo Seungkwan Dramatics will ever change that.”


	6. Dino

“Okay Dokyeom!” Dino announced, pulling out one of his class notebooks and setting it on Dokyoem’s desk. “It’s time to go over our plan for Operation Make Minghao Smile.”

Dokyeom was leaning back in “his” office chair in “his” cramped office. Spoilers: it wasn’t really his office (or his chair), he just pretended it was when the vet wasn’t there to, you know, care. Not that Dino would _ever_ use this info against Dokyeom.

“Do we really need an operation name, Dino?” Dokyeom nervously scratched his head, his messy brown hair getting even messier. Dino had picked up on all sorts of Dokyeom nervous ticks, but this one was his most obvious; he knew he could charm his way into getting Dokyeom to help him out.

“ _Of course we do!_ ” Dino loudly retorted. “We need to have a codename to talk about our mission when Hao-hao’s around.”

Dokyeom paused for a moment. He was shooting Dino a puzzled look, like he still wasn’t quite on board despite Dino’s complete and unwavering conviction for codenames and missions and everything else covert. What wasn’t there to like about operation names? It was cool! Dokyeom was such a party-pooper sometimes.

“Okay… but… how does saying Operation Make Minghao Smile, like, _not_ tell Minghao exactly what the goal of our Operation is.”

“It doesn’t because we’re going to have a codename for our codename, silly.”

Dokyeom sighed, leaning back in his chair even farther. The chair audibly creaked, though Dokyeom didn’t seem to mind much. “And what’s the codename for our codename?”

“Operation Mimosa, duh.”

Dokyeom raised an eyebrow in response. “I’m not even going to ask--”

“--Well, since you asked,” Dino interjected, “If you make an acronym from ‘Make Minghao Smile,’ it comes out to MMS, which you can sound out to make _mimosa_.”

His boss seemed to be deep in thought, as if he were trying to work out Dino’s logic in his head. Meanwhile, Dino just sat there expectantly, waiting for Dokyeom to realize his brilliance. Everybody always seemed so surprised when he said something even somewhat intelligent.

“That… That’s actually pretty clever,” Dokyeom finally replied. Dino: 1, Dokyeom: 0.

“And we can celebrate with mimosas after it works!”

“Don’t push it,” Dokyeom muttered, earning an immediate frown from Dino. “Why do we even wanna make Minghao smile?”

Dino frowned even more. How could Dokyeom, like, _not_ have noticed? Was it not completely obvious to everyone in the whole wide world? Ever since the whole Junhui thing, Minghao was practically a ghost of his previous bad-boy self.

“Have you been living under a rock for the past few weeks, Dokyeom?”

“Um, well, actually--”

“--Yeah yeah yeah, you’ve been busy with whatever it is Dokyeoms go off and do,” Dino dismissively interrupted, watching as Dokyeom made a face. “Let me just remind you why Minghao hasn’t been himself.”

Dokyeom leaned back even farther in his chair. Dino was like 99% sure he was going to fall over.

“First, Minghao’s stopped talking.”

“Um, did he ever really talk much to begin with?”

“Yes!” Dino fiercely answered, leaning forward in his seat and staring directly at Dokyeom. “Minghao may not be the most talkative person ever, but he used to at least say more than ‘Hi’ and ‘Thanks’ or whatever. Now I’m lucky to get a grunt for yes out of him. Maybe he didn’t say much to you, but he used to talk to me all the time. Things like ‘Why don’t you go eat the cat litter, Dino,’ or ‘How’s the weather down there, Dino,’ or ‘Did you actually eat the cat litter today, Dino.’ Now he doesn’t say anything like that!”

Dokyeom leaned back a little farther until he actually almost fell out of his chair, catching himself before outright disaster. Dino repressed his desire to laugh out loud; Operation Mimosa was more important. Pretending like nothing happened, Dokyeom pivoted to his response:

“Aaaand that’s a bad thing how?”

Dino basically erupted, flying out of his seat and onto his feet in a passionate defense for Minghao. “Don’t you see a problem here!? Minghao used to care about me, that’s why he used to say those things. It was Minghao’s way of connecting with me -- his own sardonic, melodramatic, ridiculous way! But you know what? He owned it, and I loved it. Now he can’t even bring himself to be, well, himself!”

Dino sat back down again, collecting himself.

“And that brings me to number two: Minghao doesn’t seem to care about anything anymore.”

Dino sighed.

“Me included.”

“I’m sure it’s not just you.”

“It’s not, Dokyeom. It’s everything. You may not notice because you spend all your time doing paperwork and check-ups, but Minghao has been really reserved. Mellow. Like, even around the rescues, he doesn’t act like his usual self. Even around me, he doesn’t act like his usual self. And maybe I’m not his favorite person right now, but he always loves the rescues. You know Joshua Hong?”

Dokyeom made a face, as if he were deep in thought.

“Cute? Reddish-pink hair?” Dino prodded.

“Um, I don’t think so.”

“Joshua is his tutor for a few of his classes. Anyways, so he dropped by the shelter yesterday. Apparently Hao hasn’t been going to any of their tutoring sessions. He used to religiously go, Dokyeom. Like he made me cover his shift here once so he could go to his tutoring appointment with Joshua!”

Dokyeom frowned.

“Yeah, I covered for him! The point is that he used to genuinely care about doing well in his classes. But now I think he doesn’t even care about that. Or here. Or me. He’s down in the dumps, Dokyeom.”

Dino sighed again, fidgeting with the pen in his hand. “Third, Hao hasn’t been eating.”

Dokyeom frowned again. This time, Dino could tell it was less of a disapproving frown and more of a concerned frown.

“Are you su--”

“--Yes.”

“Hmmph,” Dokyeom replied. “I mean, he usually didn’t eat a lot, so--”

“But this is _different_ , Dokyeom,” Dino insisted. He was slightly exasperated thinking about it, but he had to tell Dokyeom. “He used to eat most things I brought him. Now he won’t even look at it. He won’t even bring his own food either.”

Dokyeom pursed his lips. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yes, _okay_. Operation… Mimosa, or whatever, is a go.”

Finally, some progress! He had been telling Dokyeom about Operation Mimosa for the past few days, but Dokyeom kept waving him off. Now he knew he had his boss’s timid support, and that was more than he expected, to be honest. Meanwhile, Dokyeom shook his head, wondering just what he had gotten himself into.

“So here’s the plan,” Dino started, “I told Mull8 th--”

“--Wait wait wait. _‘Mull8’_? Did I hear that right?”

“Yeah, Mull8! That’s our codename for the target, Hao-hao.”

“ _Why?_ ” Dokyeom spat out.

“Do you remember back when he had that mullet for a few months? And his favorite number is eight, so, Mull8!”

Dokyeom buried his face in his palms. “Oh my go--”

“--I’m Agent Ramyum and you’re Agent Buttercup!”

“I regret agreeing to this so much.”

“This is _important_ , Agent Buttercup,”

“If it’s so important did you really have to name me after a My Little Pony character!?”

“Are you trying to say you’re not a Buttercup?”

“I definitely am not!”

“Besides, I only named you Agent Buttercup because of Hansol’s chinchilla.”

Dino wasn’t going to lie; he secretly loved it every time Dokyeom was rendered completely and totally speechless. Like right now. There was something oddly satisfying about being so extra that people just didn’t know how to react. Especially people who were so slow to pick up on jokes, like Dokyeom.

“Anyways, so where was I?” Dino continued, pausing to remind himself what he was talking about. “Oh yeah, Mull8. So I told Mull8 to drop by after his class. I mentioned that he forgot something here.”

“Well? Did he?”

Dino looked away and quietly replied: “Not really…”

Dokyeom raised one of his eyebrows.

“Okay, well, he forgot about being best friends with me.”

“Aww, Dino,” his boss replied, making a sad face.

“It’s okay, though! This is why we have Operation Mimosa! Like I was saying, I’m going to lure Mull8 here, and then force him to come over to my apartment. I’ll say that I must have taken his thing home with me or whatever. Once we get there, your job, Agent Buttercup, is to block the door so that he can’t leave. I’m going to explain to Mull8 that this is an intervention, that we’re getting him a one-way ticket out of Mopeville.”

“Oh my god.”

“So, right now, I have enough popcorn to feed a small village, three really cheesy movies that I picked out on Netflix, and enough blankets to make at least 17 blanket forts. Oh, and some hair bleach.”

“Hair bleach? … Why?”

“New hair, new Hao, new boy crush. Duh.”

“Uh huh,” Dokyeom half-agreed. “Speaking of new boy crush… what exactly happened with old boy crush again?”

Oh, yeah. That.

“Well, um, honestly, I don’t know if Hao-hao is over Junhui. If I know anything about him, it’s that he’s probably out there beating himself up over yelling at me in front of his crush. He’s probably trying to get over his crush, but, like, can’t.”

Dokyeom just nodded. Dino decided to let the silence settle between the two of them, something he usually didn’t do. He really didn’t like thinking about what Minghao said to him. It hurt, you know? Minghao was one of his closest friends, and for him to say all of those things… even if he didn’t mean them...

“Yeah,” Dokyeom finally blurted out, “You sounded really upset when you called me after that whole… thing.”

“I know and I’m so so sorry I had to close down early after that, I know I was supposed to work til closing and I know it’s my job to take care of everything during my shift because you know that’s why you let me work here and I really let you down and I’m just so sorry and ups--”

“--Dino, it’s okay,” his boss interrupted. Dino looked up, and Dokyeom was looking back at him all concerned and stuff. His words and his expression were completely earnest. He forgot Dokyeom could be like that, and it made him feel so… _relieved,_ that Dokyeom wasn’t like your normal boss.

“You were going through some things, and I get it. It’s also Minghao’s fault for walking out on you.”

“I know.”

“Dino, you did good, you focused on helping Junhui and then you called me. You did what you could do.”

“I -- I know,” Dino choked out.

“And…” Dokyeom started. “Well, I hate to ask this, but, like, why are you even trying to make Minghao happy again after he made you cry like that? After he said all of those mean things?”

“Because he’s my best friend, and he was having a bad day.”

*

“Dino.”

“Hao-hao.”

“Where’s my homework.”

To be honest, Dino wasn’t entirely sure that he was going to make it this far. He was 95% confident that Dokyeom was going to blow their cover at some point and/or that Minghao was going to catch on to what was going on. But, to his surprise, Dokyeom kept it together, and Minghao was oblivious. Dino had managed to convince Minghao that, yes, he had actually forgotten a piece of homework. And, yes, in a stroke of bad luck and bad forethought, Dino accidentally brought it home to his apartment. Furthermore, Dino was absolutely sure that it was due tomorrow because he remembered seeing a date on the assignment. Oh, and Dokyeom had decided to tag along for no particular reason. Minghao bought all of it. Bad boy? More like gullible boy. Not that Dino would ever say something that salacious to Hao-hao’s face. And, you know, risk death.

But, now that Minghao was actually in his apartment, the ruse was about to fall apart. Dino hadn’t really planned for how Minghao might react. Was he going to get angry? Was he going to try to leave? Was he going to chew him out again? Dino looked over Minghao’s shoulder and saw a very concerned Dokyeom. Dino quickly motioned toward the door, and Dokyoem got the signal -- block the door so that Minghao couldn’t leave. Agent Buttercup slowly moved into position.

“ _Dino_ ,” Minghao sternly repeated. He was practically glowering at him, sullen eyes boring through Dino’s purest of intentions. Minghao was definitely not happy.

“Um,” Dino started, trying to think of words -- any words -- that might be able to convince Minghao to stay.

“I didn’t forget my homework, did I?”

Minghao was really glaring at him now. Dino kept wracking his brain, begging himself to come up with something, anything, to keep Minghao here. It’s like his brain was molasses, not a single coherent sentence or an iota of logical thought reaching him.

“And you didn’t bring it here, did you?”

Dino looked over Minghao’s shoulder again, his eyes pleading with Dokyeom to help him. Dokyeom just shrugged, looking equally as clueless and not-helpful as Dino’s brain. Note to self: write in Agent Buttercup’s performance eval that he’s not good at thinking on his feet.

“You don’t even know if I have homework due tomorrow, do you?”

Note to self #2: Agent Ramyun is also not good at thinking on his feet.

His friend rolled his eyes and sighed disapprovingly before turning around to leave. Minghao was moving quickly, but he stopped just in front of the door -- Dokyeom was blocking his exit. Dino could see Dokyeom’s eyes focus, like he had already prepared for Dino’s incompetence, like he had been steeling himself for this Minghao confrontation. It wasn’t like that was entirely surprising: Dokyeom probably had contingency plans for Dino throughout the shelter, Agent Ramyum just didn’t know about them. For instance, there probably was a plan B for when Dino accidentally adopted out the wrong pet to someone, which he almost did last week.

“So you’re in on this, too,” Minghao dryly said. It wasn’t really a question, like Minghao was totally disinterested in whatever Dokyeom decided to say in response.

“C’mon Hao, just listen to Dino,” Dokyeom calmly started, “He’s your best friend. Do you really think he’d plan all of this if it wasn’t important?”

“Oh, I’m sure he’d do something this stupid.”

Dino couldn’t see Minghao’s face, but he was sure it was expressionless, devoid of any feeling. Just like how he’d been for the past few weeks. Dokyeom, meanwhile, narrowed his eyes, basically glaring at Minghao.

“ _Hao_ ,” Dokyeom replied, clearly agitated that Minghao was so openly dissing him. It wasn’t like his normal disses -- Minghao fully meant what he said, it wasn’t sarcastic or harmless teasing.

Minghao grunted, turning around to face Dino. His now-obvious annoyed expression definitely confirmed Dino’s suspicions: Minghao was not happy.

“So, um, I know the thing with Junhui a few weeks ago sucked.” Minghao’s expression soured even more; honestly, Dino didn’t think it was possible. “And I know I was partly to blame for making fun of you, and I’m really really sorry. I don’t think you meant what you said, but, um, I won’t lie. It hurt my feelings a lot.”

“And you didn’t mean to hurt his feelings, _right?_ ” Dokyoem interjected.

“Even if you say you did, I wouldn’t believe you,” Dino replied before Minghao could open his mouth. “Either way, all I know is that you haven’t been yourself the past few weeks, Hao-hao. And you can try to say that ‘This is who I really am’ or whatever, Hao, but I still wouldn’t believe you. You’re not like this. You’re not boring. You’re not dismissive. You’re not someone who just drags themselves from place to place. _I know you, Hao_. You care a lot about your classes, you go to your tutoring sessions, you like doodling animals and dancing, you volunteer in the shelter because damnit Hao you love those rescues. And you say you tolerate me but I know you consider me a friend.”

Minghao looked away. His expression was softening, like Dino was getting through to him.

“And you can say whatever you want to try to deny that, but I know it’s true. I know it because you’re one of my best friends, Hao. You’re like a big brother to me.”

His friend looked back at him, his eyes wide.

“I wanted you to come over because I want you to feel better, Hao-hao. I want you to stop being so mopey, goddamnit! So I dragged Dokyeom into this, and… and we’re going to hang out tonight because you need to be reminded that you have friends that care a lot about you.”

“I know you care,” Minghao softly replied, looking away again. It was one of Dino’s favorite things about Minghao -- how ridiculously shy he got when his true feelings finally peeked through.

“Yeah, well I’m going to have to prove it to you, Hao-hao! So we’re going to watch cheesy Netflix movies, eat so much popcorn that we’ll get sick, hide in blanket forts on the couch, and we’re gonna bleach your hair,” Dino finished, holding up a bag of hair bleach.

“Wait, what,” Dokyeom piped up. Apparently he had forgotten about that part.

“I am _not_ letting you bleach my hair,” Minghao insisted.

Dino just smiled knowingly.

*

“I’m going to help Dokyeom out in the back, Dino. You’ll be alright out front?”

Dino looked back at his friend, who was hovering in the open doorway heading to the exam room. Hansol had come in with Buttercup -- _again_ \-- and this time he brought along his boyfriend Seungkwan, who seemed to be even more of a hyperactive hypochondriac than Hansol. Hence the need for reinforcements; Dokyeom couldn’t deal with Hansol _and_ Seungkwan breathing down his neck about their chinchilla’s mysterious “lethargy.”

Did anybody ever try telling them that maybe they had a lazy chinchilla?

“Dino?”

“Oh, yeah, I’ll be fine,” Dino said, smiling a little too much. He flashed an enthusiastic thumbs-up at Minghao who 100% definitely had bleach-blonde ramen-colored hair.

Minghao shot him a weird look, like _Dino_ was the one who had bleached hair.

After his friend closed the door to the exam room, Dino chuckled to himself: Minghao was such a pushover. It took not even five minutes of pestering for black-haired Hao to buckle, giving into Dino’s puppy eyes. It was the “older brother” thing to do, Dino insisted. He loved every second of it -- if Minghao had been one of those Kpop idols or whatever, Dino stanned soft Hao-hao. He was just so _cute_.

And a pushover.

Minghao never really did apologize for three weeks ago. He didn’t have to, though. At least not verbally. Dino _knew_ Minghao, and he knew that words were not his thing. No, Dino knew that Minghao was sorry when Minghao brought him a burrito yesterday. A burrito! Minghao doesn’t even buy burritos for himself. His friend gave it to him wordlessly with a small smile. It was cute.

Yet, despite the Operation Mimosa’s complete and resounding success, something was still off. Minghao was better, but Dino could tell something was off. He was still quiet. Reserved. Dino had a hunch it was about Junhui.

Dino heard the door open, perking up to see who it was.

Oh _shit_.

“Oh hey Dino.”

Oh shit oh shit oh shit.

Dino recognized that lilt in his voice, and he knew Minghao would too if he heard him, if he heard _Junhui_. Meanwhile, Junhui seemed completely oblivious to his role as Minghao’s #1 problem right now. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have come here, Dino reasoned.

“Oh, um, hi Junhui,” Dino choked out, trying to keep his voice quiet-ish. He needed to get Junhui out of here before Minghao finished up in the back and before Junhui figured out that Minghao was here. Dino ran one of his hands through his dyed brown hair, pushing it back. He wasn’t good at thinking on his feet, how was he going to pull this off?

“So, um, how can I help you?”

“Oh, I --” Junhui started, stopping mid-sentence without much explanation. “I was just in the neighborhood with Lilli and figured I’d stop by?”

Junhui looked down at Lilli, and the little sausage pup was excitedly wagging her tail in response. Damnit, it was _so_ cute; Lilli had a pastel pink collar now, and it looked like Junhui was walking her using a pink leash with flowers on it. She seemed to recognize this place, too, wagging her tail even more when she noticed him at the front desk. Oh my god, he wanted to pet her so badly. Instead, Dino nervously laughed like an idiot. He really wasn’t good at this thinking-on-your-feet thing.

“It’s nice of you to visit!” he finally responded. Dino was trying his best to keep his responses short, hoping that Junhui would leave.

“I actually had a few questions, too.” Junhui shifted his weight, watching Dino carefully. “You know, about puppy training.”

“Um, well, actually --”

“I mean, if you’re busy, I could wait and ask Minghao or something?”

Abort, abort, abort!

“No-no-no, you can totally ask me, I know a lot about puppies!” Dino exclaimed... anything to avoid another Junhui-Minghao interaction -- another disaster. “Besides, Hao-hao’s busy right now.”

“Oh, so he’s here?” Junhui piped up.

Shit.

“Uh, yeah,” Dino admitted, silently berating himself for being such a dumbass. “But he won’t be done in the examination room for, like, hours.” _And with Seungkwan and Hansol, that might actually be true._

“He’s in the examination room?” Junhui looked back at the door behind Dino, the door that said ‘Examination Room’ in big, bold letters.

Shit!

Dino just about wanted to light himself on fire right now.

“Yeah, but it’ll be a really long appointment! So you should just ask me your questions.” _And maybe forget about Minghao_.

“Okay. And then maybe Minghao can examine me.”

What? Dino cocked an eyebrow, and Jun’s eyes grew super wide in embarrassment.

“I meant ‘my Lilli,’ sorry,” Junhui added. “Sometimes I, um, forget how to talk.”

“Uh huh.”

“It usually happens around Minghao for some reason…” Jun explained.

What was going on with Junhui? Last time he visited, he was pretty calm and collected; he wasn’t really flirting, but he also wasn’t really _not_ flirting. Little things here and there made Dino wonder if Junhui really liked Minghao. But this week basically confirmed it. Who the hell forgets how to talk about one of their random classmates? No, Junhui _probably_ liked Minghao.

Buuuuuut, Minghao definitely would not want to see Junhui right now. Dino had to stick to his plan: he had to get Junhui out of here ASAP so that he could avoid another catastrophe.

“O… kay,” Dino slowly enunciated, confusion spilling out into his voice. “So you had some questions?”

“Oh, um, yeah! I actually have a list.”

Dino watched as Junhui pulled out a neatly-folded piece of paper from his pocket and started unfolding it. He could feel his soul leaving his body as Junhui kept unfolding it and unfolding it until it was a full-sized lined piece of notebook paper with Junhui’s neat and tiny handwriting filling up each line with questions. Lilli kept trying to get Junhui’s attention, resting her front paws on his shins while her hind paws were on the ground. Junhui finally acquiesced, picking her up with his free hand.

“Um…” Dino demurred.

“Oh, uh, these aren’t all questions!” Junhui replied, laughing a little at Dino’s shocked response. “I have some other random notes here. Mostly because Lilli here is so… special.”

Of course he had a list. Of course Minghao would fall for the cute studious boy who makes disorganized lists and has a lilt in his voice. It all was starting to make sense now.

“Um, I can really just wait for Minghao if you want? It’s no big deal.”

Apparently Dino hadn’t changed his expression at all. “No, um, I can just answer your questions quickly? Yeah, that’s what I’ll do.”

Before Dino could mentally (and maybe physically) facepalm at himself for stupidly thinking out loud, a loud shriek cut through the building.

“OW!”

Oh shit, that was definitely Minghao’s voice, and it definitely came from the examination room.

“Is Minghao alright?” Junhui asked, putting Lilli down.

“Um, I’m sure he’s fine,” Dino answered, looking back toward the examination room. “He probably just hurt himself, he’s good at doing that.”

“Oh.” Junhui had this fond smile plastered on his face, the smile he usually had when he was looking at Lilli. Shit, did he make Junhui like Minghao even more?

Before Dino could even begin to answer Junhui’s first question, the door to the examination room burst open. Seungkwan and Hansol led the way with Hansol carrying the small pet carrier again. The first thing he heard, though, was Minghao’s shrill, nasally voice, which was really goddamn loud.

“I can’t _believe_ their chinchilla bit me!”

Oh, so Minghao _didn’t_ actually hurt himself this time.

“Seungkwannie, can chinchillas get diseases from humans?” Hansol quietly asked his boyfriend, who seemed frustrated with the whole ordeal.

“How am _I_ supposed to know, Hansol? I’m studying to be a human doctor -- do you really think I have time for veterinary classes on top of Advanced Organic Chemistry, Physical Inorganic Chemistry, Ethics and Medicine, and Cell Biology for Pre-Medical Majors? Not to mention all the time I have to spend shadowing doctors and volunteering at hospitals and doing non-acaedmic extracurriculars.”

“I know you’re very busy, babe,” Hansol softly responded. “I was just asking because you’re so smart.”

God, Dino wanted to gag so badly right now.

Meanwhile, Seungkwan smiled ever-so-slightly, his chronically stressed facial features softening a bit. “We should just wait for the vet like Dokyeom said. I’m sure Buttercup will be okay til then.”

“Seungkwan?” Junhui piped up. “What -- I’m so confused. How did you beat me here?”

“Oh hey Junhui. My beau drove us here,” Seungkwan replied, looking up at his boyfriend fondly.

“No, you’re _my_ Boo,” Hansol added, not missing a beat.

Dino actually started gagging this time, earning a mixture of concerned and annoyed looks from the small audience that was gathering in the front. Dino felt bad, but their PDA was just so… _gross_. Nothing like the soft flirty heart eyes Minghao made for Junhui a few weeks ago.

“Oh it’s nice to meet you,” Junhui answered after Dino was done externally dying. To be perfectly clear, he was still internally dying.

“Oh, yeah!” Seungkwan jumped in. “Hansol, this is Jun. Jun, this is Hansol, my boyfriend.”

“ _Like we couldn’t tell_ ,” Dino butted in, earning a dark look from Seungkwan. Hansol nodded at Junhui while Junhui smiled.

“And this is Lilli!” Junhui added, motioning toward his puppy.

Hansol nodded again, seemingly not impressed by the literal ball of cuteness standing next to Junhui.

“I’m sorry, he’s scared of dogs,” Seungkwan explained.

“Oh.” Junhui seemed a little disappointed by that, and, honestly, Dino was too: who doesn’t like dogs? “Um, random question, but is Minghao back there?”

“Yeah,” Hansol answered. “You know Minghao?”

Junhui seemed a little taken aback by that totally normal question. “Um, well, yeah, you see, w-we’re--”

“--Oh my god, you like him,” Seungkwan interrupted, a big smile forming on his face.

In some far off universe, Dino was internally regretting everything in life right now. He could see this slow-motion trainwreck happening from a mile away.

“Jun’s in _loooooove_ ,” Seungkwan teased, causing Junhui’s cheeks to turn a rosy pink. “Beau, we should go so that Junhui can have some alone time with his boyfriend.”

Hansol frowned. “ _You’re my boo_.”

“What am I? Chopped liver?” Dino interjected.

Seungkwan groaned in response. “C’mon Hansol, let’s take Buttercup home. Besides, I’ve got to study for my four exams next week. And drink my sixth cup of coffee for the day. Unlike some people here, I actually have to know what a liver looks like.”

Seungkwan and Hansol headed for the exit. Lilli barked at Buttercup’s pet carrier while Hansol walked by with it in hand. Seungkwan made a supremely annoyed face at Lilli. Hansol looked back at Dino and mouthed ‘sorry’ at him. Junhui awkwardly waved bye, though Seungkwan was having none of it. Seungkwan and Hansol left. And Minghao finally stepped out of the back room, stopping in his tracks as soon as he noticed Junhui. Dino actually threw his face into his palms this time -- this was such a mess. Everything was happening so fast.

“What are _you_ doing here?” Minghao pointedly asked Junhui, a whole lot of venom in his tone falling on the ‘you’ part of that question. In fact, his voice had done a complete 180 from earlier; instead of being soft-spoken and quiet, Minghao’s voice was lower and a little gravelly. Like he too was extremely fed up with this situation. Dino finally removed his face from his hands and looked over at Junhui, who was still blushing pretty profusely. He seemed legitimately surprised by Minghao’s question.

“Well, um, I was just in the neighborhood, and, um, I had a few questions about, well, puppy training and…”

Junhui’s soft voice got quieter and quieter until it disappeared altogether, the honeyed lisp dying under Minghao’s intense gaze. There was absolutely nothing Dino could do now other than watch the impending fireworks. Minghao was royally upset.

“Wow, your hair’s blonde…” Junhui whispered. Dino looked back at Minghao, who was still parked next to the examination room doorway. He seemed even more peeved by Junhui’s comment, full-on glaring at Junhui. Dino looked over at Junhui, who was now looking away.

Before anybody could say anything, Dino felt someone roughly grab onto his shoulder and yank him back toward the lounge.

“Dino and I have something to take care of in the back,” Dokyeom quickly commented, dragging a limp Dino back toward the mini-table in the lounge. Dino was able to catch a glance of Minghao before disappearing from the front altogether; he couldn’t care less about Dokyeom or Dino. His focus was entirely on Junhui.

Once they were out of earshot of the front, Dino looked over at Dokyeom, who was washing his hands.

“ _Why did you pull me out of there?_ ” Dino whispered. “ _What if something happens between them?_ ”

Dokyeom sighed. “Dino, there’s literally nothing you can do to stop what’s about to happen.”

Dino frowned in response. He was being a petulant child, but he wanted to know what was happening out there.

“If you stop talking, you can still hear what they’re saying,” Dokyeom added, his low voice barely making it to Dino. Dokyeom took a seat opposite of Dino, clearly interested in what Minghao and Junhui were about to say in the other room. Dino shook his head and listened in too.

“Why didn’t you ask Dino for help then?” Minghao asked Junhui.

“I did! We just, um, didn’t--”

“--Why are you even here? Was Google not good enough for you?”

A long pause broke out between them. Dino stopped breathing, trying to focus on hearing Junhui’s soft voice.

“I, um, actually wanted to talk to you,” Junhui replied, his voice barely audible from where Dino and Dokyeom were seated in the lounge.

“Isn’t that what your boyfriend is for, Junhui?” Minghao clapped back.

“W-what?”

“Why don’t you go _talk_ to Soonyoung,” Minghao repeated, mocking Junhui’s assertion that they were just talking. “You know, while you’re cuddling with him in bed.”

“M-minghao, you’ve got it all wrong.”

“Oh? Do you guys save the bed for fucking?”

“No, Minghao!” Junhui sounded extra flustered, even from the other room. “Soonyoung isn’t my boyfriend!”

“Oh? So you’re just friends with benefits? Great. Just wonderful.”

“No, we’re not anything! We’re just roommates, I swear.”

“It doesn’t even matter!” Minghao shouted, his voice loud and aggressive. Dino could hear Minghao storming out the back door, his footsteps getting quieter and quieter. When the door clicked shut, Dino slowly got out of his seat and quietly walked to the front.

Junhui was still standing there, but he looked really distraught. He wasn’t angry -- he was upset. Like he was about to cry. Lilli was still jumping up on him and trying to get his attention, but Junhui was too messed up right now to notice. However, he did hear Dino stop near the front desk, his head shooting up and eyes widening when he realized that Dino was still there. There was an awkward silence between them; Dino had no idea what to say.

“Dino, I need to go talk to him. I need to explain everything. He needs to know.”

Junhui was talking really fast; he was frazzled, but motivated to make this right.

“I, um--”

“--Dino, tell me where he lives. Please. I need to go find him and explain everything.”

Oh no.

“Please, Dino, please. Which dorm does he live in?”

“You -- You didn’t know?”

“Know what?”

“Jun. Minghao’s homeless.”

Junhui just stared back at him, apparently in shock.

“He lives in a homeless shelter.”


	7. Junhui

After that, Junhui didn’t leave his apartment, or his room, for nearly three days.

It was probably an overdramatic response. He was very aware of that.

Soonyoung was aware too, judging by how often he banged on Junhui’s door as loud as he could when he walked by, and also how he refused to continue delivering Junhui’s meals to his room instead of making him come down to the kitchen table to eat them, after the first day.

It was just...Junhui had never felt so embarrassed in his life. He’d never screwed up _this_ royally, or accidentally, or humiliating...ly.

If he’d known, if he’d had any inkling whatsoever of Minghao’s situation, he would have done so many things differently. All of the things, maybe. He could see now how many times he’d said insensitive things, how often he’d made mistakes. He never wanted to hurt Minghao’s feelings, and it seemed that, through misunderstandings and missteps alike, that was all he’d managed to do. And so, that being the case, Junhui saw no other appropriate course of action but to sequester himself in his room, where he couldn’t be a danger to society at large. Especially the most handsome members of it.

Two days passed. Junhui still didn’t have any answers. He didn’t know what he’d expected.

As embarrassed as Junhui was, he knew that Minghao was probably even more so. Junhui wanted to find him, to tell him that he didn’t care at all what Minghao’s situation was, except to try and help him if he could. But, that just wasn’t going to be possible, and Junhui understood why. It was a matter of pride, for Minghao. Junhui couldn’t go to the shelter. He was positive Minghao wouldn’t want him there. (He was also pretty positive Minghao wouldn’t want him _anywhere,_ currently, and that thought made him sadder than he was ready to admit.)

When Junhui finally got out of bed, finally forced himself out of his room and out of the apartment, he decided to go to the library on campus, to maybe get some studying done. He was aware that he’d been neglecting his classes and education in a massive way, and it was starting to make him feel guilty. So, he ended up on the second floor of the large building late one night, so late that he was probably the only one there. He was happy about that part. The less people around him, the less he would have to try and pretend he was okay with anything currently happening in his life.

He had just flipped open his Probability and Confirmation text, and dug out the extra large bag of homemade trail mix Soonyoung had made him, because even if he couldn’t express it, Junhui knew his best friend cared about him a lot, when Junhui realized that he was, in fact, _not_ alone in the library.

He wasn’t alone, but he _had_ been so distracted by digging out each and every M&M Soonyoung had thrown into his trail mix that he didn’t even notice someone sort of hovering in his orbit awkwardly, waiting to be acknowledged.

Finally, there was a clearing of the throat, and Junhui looked up, mouth full of red M&Ms (Soonyoung knew they were the only color Junhui would eat) and eyes wide.

There was a cute guy standing next to Junhui, sort of. He was far enough away to be respectful, but close enough that Junhui was fairly sure he wanted to talk about something. Or maybe just stand there, being quietly adorable. Either/or. He looked familiar, but Junhui couldn’t quite figure out why. The guy didn’t try to say anything, at first. He seemed content enough to let Junhui squint up at him, trying to figure out where he’d seen him before. The guy waited patiently for what could have been entire minutes, until Junhui sorted it out in his head.

Junhui had seen Minghao in the library several times before, and this guy was always with him. At first, Junhui had thought they were just acquaintances, but finally, over the course of several ogling sessions (study sessions. _Study sessions._ ), Junhui had figured out that the guy was actually tutoring Minghao. If only Junhui were as lucky to have a tutor who looked like that, instead of Soonyoung, whose attention span tended to last just long enough to get through one or two flashcards worth of notes.

If only Junhui were lucky, maybe _he_ could be the one tutoring Minghao. On whatever subject he wanted. Any subject, really. Junhui would probably have tried to learn Russian, if Minghao needed him to.

Anyway.

The guy must have noticed the wheels in Junhui’s brain slow to a steady pace, once he stopped thinking so hard, because he smiled and spoke for the first time, in a light, lilting voice. “Hi. I’m Joshua. I’m Xu Minghao’s tutor. You’re Jun, right?”

Junhui blinked. “Uh… yes? How did you know that?”

Joshua furrowed his brow, as if he was trying to figure out a way to answer that question that wouldn’t incriminate anyone. Junhui sort of very much hoped it would incriminate the shit out of Minghao, even though knowing how Minghao felt about him wouldn’t change the fact that he currently wanted nothing to do with Junhui.

“Oh. Um… I guess Minghao just mentioned you sitting near him, in a class. Maybe. Once or twice,” Joshua replied, fumbling over the words, while Junhui frowned harder and harder. Minghao had mentioned him to his tutor. He wondered what exactly the context had been.

 _Haha yeah, there’s this huge fuckin’ nerd that sits next to me in Prob and Conf. I can hardly concentrate, his dorkitude is so loud,_ he could imagine Minghao saying.

Or maybe, _I tried to talk to this idiot and he basically ate his own face the entire time, until it became so unbearable that I literally had to run away from him to save us both the humiliation._

Both of those seemed like reasonable options.

“Oh,” Junhui mumbled after a while. “Okay?” He really wasn’t sure where Joshua was going with this, or if he wanted to go along with him.

Joshua cleared his throat again, sitting down in the chair across from Junhui, chin in his hands. “I haven’t seen Minghao in several weeks,” he said. “I’m getting a bit worried.”

“Oh,” Junhui repeated, feeling a little dumb. “I haven’t seen him, either. He hasn’t been coming to our class for about that long.”

Joshua looked even more concerned. “I’ve tried to get ahold of him, but he’s not answering emails. I don’t have his phone number. I wondered if you might have it?”

Junhui couldn’t help snorting. “Why? He doesn’t want to talk to me. Probably ever again.”

Joshua frowned.  “Well, that doesn’t make sense. He--” Just as quickly as he’d begun speaking, Joshua stopped himself. Junhui watched him regroup silently. He didn’t know what to say, what to do about anything anymore. Maybe there _wasn’t_ anything he could do.

After a few moments, Joshua licked his lips and nodded once, getting up from the table with his mouth set in a straight line, instead of the smile he’d given Junhui at the beginning of their conversation. “Listen, just… if you see him, will you let me know? Here’s my number,” Joshua said, tearing a sheet out of Junhui’s open notebook without permission and stealing his pen to write on it. Junhui didn’t protest. He was too lost in thought.

“You can give it to Minghao,” Joshua told Junhui, straightening up and setting the pen back down next to Junhui’s notebook. “Just…” he started, and then he trailed off, thinking again. “Just tell him I’m worried about him and I’m here to help if he needs it, okay?” Joshua finished, pushing his hands into his pockets.

Junhui stared at Joshua’s number numbly. “Okay,” he muttered, not raising his eyes to Joshua again. He sat there staring at it so long that eventually, Joshua just sort of wandered away.

Junhui felt sick. He was so confused, and now he was worried about Minghao on top of everything else, and he still didn’t know what to do about any of it. All of his thinking was getting him nowhere, and also, it was giving him a headache.

He couldn’t even study, after that. Junhui just sat in the library, alone, for another fifteen minutes, looking at the torn piece of paper in front of him, and then he gathered his things, using Joshua’s number as a bookmark in his Probability and Confirmation textbook, and walked home.

*

Somehow, Junhui managed to make it there in one piece, despite the fact that his head was down the entire time, gazing into the proverbial, infinite void that his life had become. He didn’t look up at all, even as he climbed the steps to the door of his apartment building, pressed the number for his floor on the elevator, and rode it up. He didn’t look up from his shoes, not even once, until he was in front of Mingyu and Wonwoo’s door.

Junhui glanced down the hall at his own apartment, just a few doors down. Mingyu and Wonwoo had only recently moved into the same building as Junhui and Soonyoung, and he’d never actually been over to their place. Or invited over. Fleetingly, Junhui wondered what time it was. He was sure it was probably way too late to knock on the door, way too late for polite company, or desperate advice, or whatever in the hell he was considering asking for.

He was saved from his own thoughts by the door in front of him swinging open without preamble.

Mingyu wore a wide grin and his pajamas as he leaned against the doorframe, regarding Junhui. “Hey, man. You gonna stand out there all night?” he asked pleasantly. Junhui blinked several times.

From inside the apartment, Junhui heard Wonwoo’s voice. He could also hear the _eyeroll_ in Wonwoo’s voice, the one that was sort of always there, whether it was intentional or not. Junhui could understand. Mingyu was kind of a handful, if their class together was anything to  go by.

“Just come in, Jun. Close the door behind you, you’re letting out all the bought air,” Wonwoo called, and Mingyu took a step back so that Junhui could slip in. Once the door was shut behind him, as Wonwoo had ordered, and he was standing in the front hallway with Mingyu, his taller companion grinned again.

“I’m off to bed. You can hang out with the night owl,” Mingyu said, jerking his head toward the kitchen, where Wonwoo presumably was. “Later, dude.” Mingyu yawned, shuffling away to the bedroom as Junhui peered into the dimly lit apartment.

“In the kitchen,” Wonwoo confirmed a second later, and Junhui followed the sound of his voice, creeping through the apartment carefully. The last thing he needed at a time like this was to knock over some precious object with his clumsy limbs, something probably irreplaceable and expensive. He didn’t know why Wonwoo and Mingyu would have anything like that, really. Junhui was just prepared to continue being a total and complete human disaster for the forseeable future, so it seemed to go with the territory.

Thankfully, he made it to the small kitchen unscathed, and so did all of Mingyu and Wonwoo’s possessions. Wonwoo was sitting at the table, glasses on and reading a book quietly, but he glanced up when Junhui started hovering in the entrance uncertainly.

“God, you’re so fucking awkward. Sit down,” Wonwoo said with exasperation, getting up to go into the kitchenette. “How do you take your coffee?” he asked, pouring two cups from the steaming pot on the counter.

Junhui wrinkled his nose, finally pulling out his phone and checking the time, like he’d meant to do before. “Wonwoo, it’s one o’clock in the morning,” Junhui said, tossing the phone onto the table and sitting down obediently.

Wonwoo chuckled, throwing him a glance. “Like I said. _How do you take your coffee?_ ” he repeated, separating each word as if it was a whole new sentence and staring a hole into Junhui’s forehead, suddenly.

“Milkshake,” Junhui replied meekly, and then he slumped over in his chair and waited for his drink.

Less than two minutes later, Junhui had a milkshake in front of him, a cup full of milk and sugar and not a lot of coffee, and Wonwoo had his pure, unadulterated beverage, and as Wonwoo took the first sip, he regarded Junhui thoughtfully. “So. What are you doing here?”

Junhui groaned. “I don’t know. Just... falling apart, I guess.”

Wonwoo squinted at him. “Go on.”

Junhui could feel all the words bubbling up, all the things he’d been worrying about and stuffing down and worrying about and kicking to the side for weeks, since Minghao. He could also feel things from before that, crap that had been bothering him for ages that he’d tried to compartmentalize. Spoiler alert: compartmentalization was not one of Wen Junhui’s very limited skills.

“Okay, because like… I haven’t done this before. Like, ever,” Junhui started, staring at his hands wrapped around the coffee mug. “I haven’t even been out to my friends for that long, and I’ve never actually dated anyone since I came out, and…” He stopped, biting his lip. “I’ve never _liked_ anyone enough to want to date them. And now I like Minghao. I like him _so much_.” By the time Junhui stopped talking, his voice was almost at a whisper. Wonwoo was just watching him quietly. It was unnerving.

“I like him so much, and I’m just screwing _everything_ up. Everything I do seems to make him mad,” Junhui huffed out, feeling himself blush. “I’m trying so hard to be cool, but I’m _not_ cool, and--”

“No, you’re really not,” Wonwoo said dryly.

Junhui rolled his eyes. “So supportive. _So_ helpful.” Wonwoo snickered.

“Anyway, I just… I feel like I can’t do anything right. The harder I try, the worse everything gets. And now he like, monumentally hates me, or whatever, and I don’t even know why!” Junhui exclaimed, banging his fists on the table lightly in frustration. “I don’t know why.”

He picked up his coffee cup and took a long swig, barely noticing how hot it was on his tongue. Junhui sighed after he’d swallowed the sweet liquid down, trying to figure out where to go next. He supposed it didn’t actually matter, because nothing he’d said so far had made any sense, anyway.

“I just want another chance. Like, a _real_ chance. I want to fix whatever I did wrong, but I _can’t_ ,” Junhui said.

“Why can’t you?” Wonwoo asked. As if it were that simple.

“ _It’s not that simple_ ,” Junhui bit out. “I can’t just… okay, like. Please, please, for the love of god, don’t tell anyone this, but…” Junhui paused, unsure if he should tell Minghao’s secret, but… it was important to the story, he figured. “Minghao’s homeless. He lives in a shelter.”

When Junhui raised his eyes to meet Wonwoo, his companion looked calm. “I know,” he replied straightforwardly.

Junhui threw up his hands in disbelief. “What the hell?! Did everyone know this but me??” he shouted, and then he looked back in the direction of the bedroom guiltily.

Wonwoo chuckled. “Don’t worry. Mingyu sleeps like the dead.”

Junhui nodded a little. He gave himself a three second break before he went on. “How did _you_ know?” he asked, quieter.

Wonwoo sighed, looking away. “Mingyu and I were out doing our grocery shopping a few months ago, and we saw him bringing a box or two into the shelter across the street from the store,” he told Junhui. “At first, we assumed he was just helping someone take their stuff inside, but when we came out of the store, he was sitting by the front desk filling out paperwork.”

Junhui frowned. “That’s not exactly a sure bet as far as clues go,” he muttered, and Wonwoo shrugged, nodding.

“It’s not,” he agreed. “But then, we saw him again a couple weeks later, in the morning. He came out of the shelter looking like he’d just showered. I’d guess he was probably going to work,” Wonwoo mused. “That’s when we started to figure it out.”

Junhui’s jaw dropped. “Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

Wonwoo gave him a disapproving frown. “Because it’s none of our business. He obviously doesn’t want anyone to know, or he would go around telling everyone he met. Sometimes you just have to leave things alone, Jun.”

Junhui shook his head so hard that it gave him a headache. “No. I can’t. I can’t leave him alone, Wonwoo. I want to _help_ him,” he protested, hearing how his voice started to rise in pitch frantically.

Looking at Junhui seriously, Wonwoo considered his next words before he said them. “I get that, Jun. I really do. But…” he began, stopping to sip his coffee before he went on, “Minghao seems like he has a lot of pride,” Wonwoo said, echoing Junhui's thoughts from earlier. “A lot of pride that can be easily wounded. You get what I’m saying?”

Junhui sighed. “Yeah.” He _did_ get it. He just hated the idea of it, suddenly. He thought for a moment, before turning his face back to Wonwoo. “Do you think I’ve fucked it up forever?” Junhui asked.

Wonwoo laughed quietly. “Nah. You can’t fuck something up that hasn’t even started, Jun.”

Crossing his arms, Junhui frowned. “It sure feels like I can,” he muttered.

Wonwoo rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic, dude. It’s fine. You haven’t burnt any imaginary bridges.”

Junhui chewed on his bottom lip, thinking. “Then… what do I do? How can I fix it, when he’s up and disappeared off the face of the earth?” he asked, his mind running through all the possibilities at top speed.

Wonwoo stretched, getting up from the table to refill his coffee cup. Junhui honestly had no idea how Wonwoo functioned so normally, with this schedule and these habits. Junhui had only had one cup of late night/early morning coffee (okay, with a lot more sugar than Wonwoo preferred), and he was already starting to get the shakes.

Granted, a lot of that nervous energy might have been to do with the Minghao Situation. But, Junhui was suddenly manifesting the ability to compartmentalize enough to convince himself that they were two totally separate entities. A very healthy approach, he thought smugly to himself as he waited for Wonwoo to reply.

When he sat down again with a freshly filled to the top coffee cup, Wonwoo clasped his hands together on the table in front of them, and between that and the glasses starting to slip down his nose ever so slightly, he was beginning to look like any number of Junhui’s professors. Hopefully, what Junhui would learn from Wonwoo would be a lot more helpful in his daily life. Even if it just helped for one day. One day and one chance were all he needed.

“I think you need to go to the shelter, Jun. You need to make a gesture,” Wonwoo decided finally.

Junhui swallowed, hard. “He doesn’t want me there,” he said softly, even though part of him begged to be heard, telling him otherwise.

Wonwoo shook his head. “I think he does, deep down. Even if he doesn’t want you _there,_ per se, he wants _you._ He wants to know you care. He wants to know you _don’t_ care about his situation, or that at the very least, you don’t judge him for it,” Wonwoo said wisely. Junhui leaned forward, listening carefully.

“Just go, and be honest with him. Make him listen to you. Try your best, and I think you’ll finally get through to him,” Wonwoo advised. “And if you don’t…” he trailed off, regarding Junhui. “At least you can say you tried. That’s all you can ever ask of yourself, Jun.”

Normally, Junhui wasn’t a crier. He was pretty reserved in his emotions. But something about this whole thing, this whole Minghao _thing,_ was pulling at his heartstrings in a way he’d never experienced before. He’d had approximately five hysterical meltdowns over Minghao so far, and suddenly, before Junhui even realized it was happening, it became six.

To Wonwoo’s credit, he didn’t make fun of Junhui for it. He just pushed their chairs next to each other at the table and read his book in silence while Junhui cried on his shoulder until he couldn’t cry anymore, patting his shoulder every so often in between turning the pages of his book.

By the time Junhui finally left, it was three in the morning, he’d had two more cups of sugary sweet coffee, and his eyes hurt from all the crying he’d done, but he felt lighter. He felt hopeful.

He felt _determined._


	8. Minghao

Minghao slammed the door shut loud enough that anybody four doors down could have heard him.

He didn’t care. He didn’t give a fuck. Screw them. Fuck them all. He hated people. He hated everything. So he slammed the door, threw his bag onto the floor next to the bed, and fell back against the reinforced door frame, his back sliding down until his ass was planted on the floor. Minghao balled his fists up, slamming his right fist against the wall next to the door frame with a loud bang. _Fuck everyone_.

Leaning forward into his knees, Minghao slammed his fist into the wall again. The apartment rattled, the rickety incandescent light bulb flickering. It wasn’t like Minghao was particularly strong -- more so that this motel was particularly shitty.

After screaming at Junhui and storming out of the shelter in front of his boss, his best friend, and his crush, he went to his other shelter. _The homeless shelter_. In a spat of irrational anger, emotions flooding out of him in such a vitriolic and negative way, he yanked out his battered textbooks from underneath his bed in his tiny room and pulled out plain-looking manilla envelope. His emergency fund. His rainy-day cash. His get-out-of-jail card, except the jail here was homelessness. Minghao weaseled out $380 he had stashed away, that he was saving up for first-month’s rent for an apartment, and stormed right back out of his room, leaving it in a complete mess.

He walked across town with $380 shoved in his pocket, hands jammed in his jacket, and a switchblade laced between his fingers just in case. He liked the cool embrace of the metal. Minghao didn’t have to use it; he had never needed to use it. But still, with his entire life savings (the money he had built up over the past few months of socking away Dokyeom’s shameful pittance) on his person, he needed to be careful. There was no way he was gonna let someone fuck with street trash like him and steal the only thing he ever worked for. Fuck that.

Nobody tried.

Nobody ever tried.

Minghao leaned to his left, the side of his body resting against the corner of the room. He was curled up in the fetal position, his balled-up fist falling from the wall to the floor, the $80 he had left crumpled up in his pocket squeezing against his chest. He blew one-quarter of his savings on a motel room for a week; he blew his only shot at getting better. The shelter was going to kick him out for not checking in over the next week, the university was going to kick him out for not passing his classes, Dokyeom was going to kick him out for having a second meltdown in such a short amount of time.

Junhui was going to kick him out of his life for being such a dick.

Fuck it. Fuck them. Fuck everything about them and everyone he’s ever known. He wanted to leave, to escape, to forget about all the people who hated him now. Mr. Choi, Dokyeom, Dino, Hansol, Seungkwan, Soonyoung, Joshua, Junhui -- all of them. Especially Junhui. All of them needed to fuck off, to leave him alone, to forget about the Minghao that they thought they knew and just fuck off forever. He raised his right fist again and slammed it against the wall again, much harder than the previous two times. Minghao pretended not to feel the numbing pain spreading through his hand and up his arm, juxtaposing it to the pain in his chest that hurt more.

Fuck Junhui.

Fuck Junhui.

_Fuck Junhui_.

The adrenaline started waning, the knot in his throat growing, the deep-seeded regret remaining. Minghao felt like he was gasping for air. He was such a fuck-up that he couldn’t even breathe right, his labored inhales and exhales betraying his fuck-them-all attitude. He was so angry -- but not at them. Not at Dino or Dokyeom or Joshua or Junhui. No, for the umpteenth fucking time, he was angry at himself.

He took his fist from the wall and slammed it against his leg, ignoring the pain he felt in his shin and the pain he felt in his hand, focusing on the pain he felt in his heart. The pain that came from taking the essence of all of his anger and directing it at himself for being such a shitty friend and human being in general. He wasn’t angry at Dino for pushing him, at Dokyeom for believing in him, at Joshua for trying with him, or Junhui for fucking existing. No, he was angry at himself for taking all of his friends, taking all the people who believed in him and shoving them away with his shitty actions and shitty words and shitty feelings. He was angry at himself for never being good enough.

Frankly, he didn’t deserve Wen Junhui.

Everything was his fault. He was trying to be someone who he wasn’t. He wasn’t good enough to go to college or to volunteer at the shelter.

And he _certainly_ wasn’t good enough for Wen Junhui.

“Fuck Junhui,” he murmured to himself.

He didn’t deserve Wen Junhui’s dimples, his beautiful brown eyes, and certainly not his goddamn brilliant smile. He didn’t deserve Junhui’s dorky laugh and how it echoed through the room because it was so loud. He didn’t deserve Junhui’s breathless stammering, how he could endearingly stumble over his words. He didn’t deserve Junhui’s intelligence or his thoughtfulness or his patience. And he definitely didn’t deserve any crush that Junhui might have been harboring for him.

At least that crush was as good as gone now.

Minghao’s brain ached from thinking about this so much. He forced himself up and sauntered over to the lone bed in his tiny motel room. Nearly tripping over his bag, he fell onto his bed -- his bed for the next six days -- with a thud. He’d never slept on a queen bed before. Something about starting now didn’t make him feel any better, though.

Each passing moment just seemed to make him more upset. He decided that he needed to order food, so he pulled out his phone. Scrolling through his notifications, it seemed like Dino had tried texting him 15 times in the past few hours. The first texts were short and mildly concerned, but each passing text got longer and longer, sappier and sappier. By the end, Dino’s texts had gotten shorter again ending with “ _Hao please text me_.”

“Fuck you, Dino” he murmured, believing that if he said it that it might actually change how he felt. Maybe if he told Dino to fuck off, it might actually change the two conflicting feelings that were gnawing at him: that he would give anything to have Dino with him right now telling him everything would be alright or that he would give anything to have Dino forget everything about him so that he couldn’t be such a shitty friend to him. Minghao shook his head and Googled a pizza place. He squirmed $20 out of his pocket and ordered two large meat-heavy pizzas, eating away at more of his emergency fund.

Not that any of that mattered anymore.

*

Fine. _Fucking fine_.

Minghao was chewing on his bottom lip as he stared at his phone, scrolling through five new texts from Dino. He was now on Day 5 of staying at the motel, and he had amassed something like forty more unanswered texts from Dino. Finally -- _finally_ \-- he decided to answer his friend. He would never admit that he read every single text that Dino had sent him, nearly crying every time Dino brought up something about their friendship, like that one time a puppy got so excited when he saw Minghao that he decided to pee all over him. He desperately wanted Dino to give up, but he knew better; he knew that his friend never would. It wasn’t like Dino to give up, especially to give up on Hao.

So when he finally decided to answer, he wasn’t entirely surprised when Dino practically leapt through his phone, spamming Minghao with thirty texts in two minutes. A wall of all-caps flooded his phone; emoji-laden, exclamation-point heavy, sappy Dino texts talking about how worried he was and how he wanted nothing more than to get a response and how happy he was to hear back from him. After days of wallowing in a thoroughly-depressed pizza-fueled Mopehao state, Minghao couldn’t fight the smile spreading across his face.

Dino was _insisting_ that he see Minghao, to make sure he was alright. Before Minghao could respond, he had already suggested a diner near campus and a time: in a few hours at 7pm. It wasn’t like Minghao had plans -- he had spent the past few days binge-watching TV on the shitty cathode-ray-tube TV in his motel room and eating pizza and Thai food and other horribly-greasy take-out entrees for every meal. Maybe diner food would make for a nice break. Besides, he had $20 of his original $380 left. It hurt to think about how he’d blown through months of saving in five days.

Minghao shook his head, filled his bag up with his clothes, grabbed his blade, and started the long walk to the other side of town.

*

By the time he made it to the diner, it was almost 7pm. He paused at the door, second-guessing whether he should even bother with this. He didn’t have to. _But Dino deserved this_ , he reasoned. Dino deserved to see him after all the effort he went through to get Minghao to open back up.

Upon entering the diner, Minghao immediately spotted Dino’s mop of brown hair at one of the booths, sidling past the waitresses’ stand and quickly tapping Dino on the shoulder. Dino immediately whipped around, a huge beaming smile plastered on his face while he basically exploded out of the booth to tightly wrap his arms around Minghao’s back under his bag, pulling him in for a long, unending hug. Minghao smiled, hugging Dino back.

“I was so worried,” Dino choked out, his head resting against Minghao’s chest. “So, so worried.”

“I’m sorry,” he offered, thinking -- _knowing_ \-- that it wasn’t good enough.

“Where did you even go?” Dino asked. Minghao started pivoting around the smaller brunette, moving closer to the other side of the booth.

“It doesn’t matter,” he answered, slowly breaking the hug so he could toss his backpack toward the end of the booth and sit down. Dino took a seat opposite of him, his sweet toothy smile remaining. The younger boy slid a plain white mug filled to the brim with coffee across the table.

“You didn’t have to,” Minghao softly countered, eyeing it warily.

“It was 99 cents.”

Minghao paused. “Fair enough.”

“You haven’t been going to class. Or the shelter. Or the other shelter.”

“I don’t know if I want to go back to any of them,” he calmly replied, keeping his eyes locked with Dino’s. His friend furrowed his brow and frowned, setting his coffee down.

“But why!” Dino exclaimed, more loudly than Minghao would’ve liked. Not that there was ever a time where he wouldn’t appreciate Dino being a little quieter. “We’ve all missed you,” Dino continued, “and we all want you to come back!”

Minghao cocked an eyebrow. “Everyone?” he quizzed.

“Yes! Everyone!” Dino sat up a little bit. “Your tutor Joshua dropped by the other day to check in because he hadn’t seen you in a while. Dokyeom really wants you to come back to the shelter because the rescues are getting restless without you around. Seungkwan said he missed you a little because you ‘make me less loud.’ And I miss you a whole lot because you’re my best friend!”

Minghao scoffed, his attention hanging on every sentence, silently and secretly hoping for any mention of Junhui. He felt his heart deflate when Dino finished, but there wasn’t anything about Junhui. _I should be happy that my friends care about me_ , he mused, but that didn’t stop him from feeling a little depressed about the whole thing. He wanted Junhui to miss him. He wanted Junhui to be thinking about him, to be talking about him, to be falling for him just as hard he was falling for Junhui. He wanted Junhui.

Dino must have noticed.

“I think Junhui misses you too.”

His expression darkened, but his heart leapt. He fought back the happiness bubbling up, trying to play it down. “And how could you possibly know that,” he interrogated.

Before Dino could answer, an awkward-sounding cough came a few feet away from their booth. Both Dino and Minghao looked over at the source of the cough.

“You came!” Dino shouted, beaming again.

“You invited _Soonyoung_!?” Minghao interjected, glaring at Dino across the booth.

“You didn’t tell him?” Soonyoung dryly asked, glancing over at Dino.

“Okay okay okay,” Dino answered, sliding over in the booth a little to let Soonyoung sit down. “First off, _you_ wouldn’t have come if I told you that Soonyoung would be here,” his friend accused, wagging a finger in his direction. He then shifted to pointing at Soonyoung “And _you_ need to tell him about Junhui because he’ll never believe me.”

Soonyoung shook his head, looking down a little. He acquiesced, though, plopping into the booth with Dino. It took every bit of willpower Minghao had not to leave right then and there -- this was the last thing he wanted to deal with right now, even if he wanted to know everything about Junhui. E-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g.

“So you invited Junhui’s roommate, boyfriend, friend-with-benefits, whatever,” Minghao fumed.

“Roommate, yes,” Soonyoung answered before Dino could open his mouth. “Friend-with-benefits… _ew_. And no.”

“ _Ew!?_ ” he incredulously parroted.

“Wow, you really do love him,” Soonyoung flatly replied, with Minghao immediately death-staring back. Was he that obvious? “But, yeah, _‘ew_.’ He’s my best friend and roommate, but nothing more than that.”

“But!” Dino cut in, his expression hopeful. “As his best friend, you’re basically an expert on Junhui. Right?”

“Right.” Soonyoung agreed, nodding while Dino took a sip of his coffee. Minghao squirmed uncomfortably, watching this conversation play out in real time, watching all the scenarios he had played out in his head eliminated in real-time. What if Junhui really was interested in him? He shook his head -- there was no way that was true, even if he desperately wanted it to be true.

“So, as our Junhui expert, does Junhui miss Minghao?”

Soonyoung shifted in his seat. “Well, he hasn’t said that in as many words…”

“See!” Minghao interrupted, feeling like this was his out. He started to pull out of the booth, but Soonyoung kept talking.

“... _But_ , he’s certainly acted like it,” Soonyoung continued. Minghao stopped in his tracks, reluctantly falling back into his booth seat. “The day when, well, whatever happened at the rescue shelter, Junhui came home and basically didn’t leave his room for three days. The only way I could coax him out was by making him come get his food in the kitchen, not that he’d say anything about what happened. He eventually moped his way out of his room and started going to class again.”

“Oh,” Minghao breathed out. “That doesn’t sound like he cares.”

“ _Listen here, you little shit_ ,” Soonyoung immediately countered. “Junhui may get on my nerves sometimes, but I swear to god I have never seen him like this. For like the past month, he’s been _obsessed_ with you. He dresses up more on days when he has that one class with you. He goes to the shelter even though he has no reason to go there anymore. He asked whether I knew you and then extracted every bit of information I had on you. Sometimes Junhui’s annoying, but whatever you did, his heart was fucking broken for like a week.”

Minghao looked down and away from Soonyoung, focusing on the chip on his coffee mug’s handle. Anything but Soonyoung. However, Soonyoung tutted, leaning back in his seat.

“ _Was_ ,” Dino repeated, earning a confused look from Minghao. “You said his heart _was_ broken.”

Soonyoung sighed. “Right.”

“S-so he’s moved on?” Minghao squeaked out.

“No, dumbass,” Junhui’s roommate bitingly replied. “Do you know how many damn vague ‘advice’ questions I’ve gotten from him about you the past few days? He thinks that I don’t know who he’s asking about or why he’s asking, but I’m not stupid. Like three or four days after your fight or whatever, he seemed a lot better. He started making his own meals, thank god. He started going to class. And then, yeah, I got these… these vague-asks about who I can only assume is _you_.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you! I don’t know what you did or how you did it, but for some inexplicable reason, Junhui likes _you_.”

“And you like him,” Dino added, smiling at Minghao. He glared at his best friend and then moved his attention back to Soonyoung.

“You better no--”

“-- Like hell I’m getting in the middle of this,” Soonyoung complained. “One of you will get over your inferiority complex eventually and spill the beans.”

Dino giggled while Minghao’s eyes narrowed at Soonyoung.

“Now,” Soonyoung started, getting up out of the booth. “If that’s all, I’ve gotta go home and try to study. And probably answer some questions about ‘what I would do about a boy who I really liked but who I think hates me.’”

Soonyoung left in a huff, and Dino slid back over to the middle of the booth, taking another sip from his coffee once he was directly across from Minghao. Meanwhile, he didn’t want to say anything. At all. He didn’t want to acknowledge the idea that Junhui might actually like him, even after all of his fuck-ups. He didn’t deserve Junhui despite how much he wanted him.

“So,” Dino finally said. “Do you believe me _now_ that everyone misses you?”

“I think I hate you with a burning passion,” Minghao deadpanned, looking away.

“I’m sure that’ll go away when you finally work it out with your lover-boy.”

Minghao scoffed, getting up from the booth. “I doubt it,” he answered, leaving Dino alone at their table with his untouched cup of coffee.

He slung his bag over his shoulder and strided out the door. As soon as he was outside, Minghao decided to start walking toward the shelter, hoping that he’d still have a room.

And maybe hoping that things with Junhui would work out too.


	9. Junhui

“Jun, we can see you out here. You’re not sneaky.”

Junhui’s head shot up at the sound of Dokyeom’s voice coming from the now-open door of the shelter. Eyes wide, he peeked over the large bush he’d been trying to hide behind, his third hiding place in the last half an hour. Dokyeom was leaning against the door to keep it propped open, arms crossed over his chest, looking disappointed and amused all at once.

“It’s fine, you can come in,” Dokyeom offered, shaking his head good-naturedly. “Minghao’s not here.”

At that, Junhui popped out from behind the landscaping, feeling forty-six percent more distressed than he had in the entire thirty minutes he’d been trying to make himself go inside the shelter.

“Not here?” Junhui squeaked, approaching Dokyeom now. “What do you mean, not here? Is he okay? Did he quit? Did he leave the country to avoid me??” Junhui was practically wringing his hands by the time he stopped almost-yelling at Dokyeom, and he’d never actually seen anyone wring their hands in real life. He hadn’t even considered it being a _thing_ until just now.

As Junhui stood there, flailing internally and externally, watching Dokyeom watch him with a growing amount of pity, Dino appeared, poking his head out the door Dokyeom was leaning against.

“Relax, Jun. He’s just off today. People _do_ have days off, y’know,” Dino said, chuckling.

Junhui deflated, overcome with relief. “Oh. Right. A day off,” he muttered, lowering his eyes to his shoes as he attempted to process his embarrassment. He was acting like a total idiot, and he knew it, and now Minghao’s friends knew it, too, so it would probably only be a matter of time before Minghao _himself_ knew it, and that wasn’t going to get him anywhere. He had to pull himself together, and fast.

Dokyeom rolled his eyes, lifting himself off the door and turning to go inside. “Well, you might as well come in. I think you’re driving away all the potential visitors. People hiding in bushes are never a good sign,” he tossed over his shoulder as he disappeared into the shelter, Dino following along behind him like the puppy he was. Junhui sighed, exiting the foliage completely, dusting a few stray leaves off his sweater as he wandered in after them.

Dino was already sitting in his usual place behind the counter when Junhui made it into the shelter, Dokyeom flipping through a neatly organized file nearby. Without glancing up, Dokyeom began to talk again.

“So, did you have more questions about Lilli? Anything wrong?” he asked, and his voice sounded professional again, as if the simple act of crossing the threshold of his place of employment had the profound ability to alter his personality. Junhui was kind of marveling at that, wishing he had a tenth of the maturity, emotional and otherwise, that Minghao’s friends seemed to, when he remembered that he should probably answer Dokyeom’s questions.

“Uh. No, not really. Lilli’s great. She’s amazing,” Junhui replied, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I came to… I actually wanted to… um…” he trailed off, knowing that the real reason he’d come was probably already glaringly obvious, and Dokyeom had just been humoring him. Junhui was always far more obvious than he liked to believe he was. When he looked up again, both Dokyeom and Dino were just sort of staring at him, twin expressions of bemusement on their faces. Just waiting for him to state the obvious.

Well. Maybe he wouldn’t give them the _satisfaction_ , Junhui thought, frowning a little as he stared back at the shelter employees.

Finally, Dino saved everyone in the room from a prolonged silent stare-off, and said, “You came to see Minghao, huh.”

Junhui sighed, falling onto the nearest couch, probably more dramatically than he’d meant to. “Yeah. I guess,” he groaned, throwing one arm over his eyes to shield himself from any more pitying looks Dino and Dokyeom were giving him.

Someone moved Junhui’s legs off the couch, and then he felt the piece of furniture dip with the weight of someone new sitting down next to him. He didn’t bother to look as whoever it was rearranged Junhui’s legs on their lap carefully.

“I don’t think this is the place you need to talk to Minghao, Jun,” Dino said finally, his voice thoughtful.

Junhui moved his hand enough to squint at the younger boy next to him. “What do you mean?”

Dino frowned a little, thinking hard. “I mean… this is now kind of the place where things keep getting confused between you guys, and keep going wrong. I think you need… a new place, y’know?” he suggested, looking over at Junhui.

Junhui matched his frown. “I guess you could be right. We aren’t really getting anywhere, every time we see each other here. But… he won’t talk to me in class, when he shows up, and I don’t really see him anywhere else. Where am I supposed to find him?” he questioned, at a loss.

“The shelter,” Dokyeom said from behind the desk.  “You need to find him at the homeless shelter.”

An ice cold chill ran down Junhui’s spine at hearing the same suggestion he’d gotten from Wonwoo. “I don’t think I can go there, Dokyeom. I don’t think I _should,_ ” he protested, feeling sick at the very thought of it. He wasn’t worried about _actually_ being at the shelter itself. He wasn’t afraid of Minghao’s situation, at all. He was mostly just afraid of Minghao’s apparently extra large sense of pride, and his likely reaction to Junhui just showing up at his sort-of-home, which would probably amount to a door being slammed in his face and no further opportunities for conversation. Ever.

He realized suddenly that this trip had been pointless. He was just getting the same advice he'd already gotten. The advice he had felt so sure of at first, but then, in typical Junhui fashion, began to doubt.

Dino gave Junhui a serious look, still next to him on the couch with Junhui’s legs in his lap. “Sometimes it doesn’t matter what you _should_ do, Jun. It matters what you _need_ to do. Sometimes, I think…” Dino trailed off for a moment, pondering his next words before he said them, “I think the meaning of a person’s actions is more important than the actions themselves,” Dino decided after a while. “I think that you being willing to go out there and see Minghao might be the only thing that makes him pay attention.”

Junhui blinked at Dino in amazement. “Dude. How old are you, again?” he asked in disbelief.

Dino grinned. “I’m twenty!”

Sitting up, Junhui shook his head, laughing a little. “Twenty, and about twenty years worth of smarter than me. Unbelievable,” he muttered.

From across the room, Dokyeom snorted. “I know, right? It’s disturbing.”

When Junhui looked back at Dino, the kid was still smiling serenely, looking completely confident in his words. Junhui really had no choice but to accept his previous decision.

And he would. He just needed one more night to continue wallowing in the whole situation, first.

*

As he walked down the hall towards his apartment, after he’d visited the shelter, Junhui heard something strange. There were… strange noises, coming from his home. Or, maybe the apartment next door. He took a few more cautious steps in that direction, and, _yep,_ it was definitely inside he and Soonyoung’s apartment.

Junhui heard talking. And laughter. And terrible, _terrible_ off-key singing, interspersed between the two.

It was all very bizarre, because of late, Sooyoung had been pretty stressed and depressed. Between Junhui’s life falling apart, and what Junhui could only guess was Jihoon’s continued lack of making the first move and actually talking to Soonyoung, he’d watched helplessly as his roommate descended into a pattern of eating, sleeping, making sure Junhui and Lilli were fed, and not much else. Soonyoung had gone out the other night for the first time in weeks, but when he got back, Junhui couldn’t get a straight answer on where he’d been. It was terribly inconvenient, timing-wise, because Junhui was pretty busy melting down and shoving his head further up his own ass simultaneously, so he couldn’t really do much to help his roommate out of whatever dark hole he’d fallen down.

But now, Junhui was almost one hundred percent positive he heard Soonyoung _enjoying_ himself, and what was more, he didn’t seem to be alone, inside the apartment.

Y’know. Unless he’d suddenly developed a split personality and the two of them were having a killer time belting out Big Bang together.

Junhui maybe should have texted Soonyoung from the hallway, before just barging in on whatever party he was having. Instead, he just sort of threw the front door open without warning, and when he did, Junhui was treated to the sight of Soonyoung and Jihoon, microphones in their hands as they danced and karaoke’d like idiots on Junhui’s (Soonyoung’s) couch. That would have been enough for Junhui to tease Soonyoung about for the next decade on its own, really. But then he noticed more.

Soonyoung and Jihoon were sitting awfully close together, for one. Legs touching, even. Both of them were blushing, and Junhui was reasonably sure it wasn’t just because “Bang Bang Bang” took a lot of effort and exertion to pull off properly.

But the most incriminating piece of evidence? That came when Junhui’s eyes lowered ever so slightly, and he saw Kwon Soonyoung and Lee Jihoon, the Meanest T.A. in the whole university (except not) holding hands, _right in front of Junhui’s salad._

 _Right on his couch_ that his roommate actually owned so it wasn’t technically _his_ couch, but, whatever.

Soonyoung vaulted off said couch when he saw Junhui, and Jihoon just sort of froze in place, still grinning and flushed as Soonyoung cut off the music swiftly, straightening up to regard his roommate.

“Jun. Hey. I didn’t think you’d be home for a while. You, uh… you know Jihoon?” Soonyoung asked, waving his arm in Jihoon’s direction and wearing an expression that positively _begged_ Junhui not to reveal certain secrets, lest he face immediate death.

Junhui cleared his throat awkwardly, tossing his bag on the floor. “Uh… yeah. We might have met,” he began, trying not to smirk too openly. “Hey, Jihoon.”

Jihoon just sort of nodded and did some sort of vague hand gesture that Junhui guessed was probably supposed to count as a wave. He seemed to be incapable of forming words, suddenly.

No one said anything for another few seconds, until Junhui finally clapped his hands together and nodded, once. “Well. This has been sufficiently weird. I’m just gonna go to my room now,” Junhui muttered, navigating around the messy front room towards the bedroom hallway. He’d almost made it to his destination when Junhui stopped, listening for any signs of life back in the living room. It was still dead silent, and Junhui figured both Soonyoung and Jihoon were still trying to catch up with, y’know. Having been _caught_. In short, it was the perfect time to fuck with Soonyoung, just a little bit.

“You guys don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, now!” Junhui called into the silence, knowing his intended audience was paying attention. “Oh, and if you need a condom, Soonyoung’s got a big box of them in the drawer next to his bed, Jihoon!” Junhui continued. “They’ve been there for a while, so maybe check the expiration date first, though! _You’re welcoooooooooooooome!!_ ” Junhui trilled, and then he walked into his bedroom and slammed the door, locking it after him just in case Soonyoung decided he didn’t want to wait, to murder his roommate.

Junhui flopped onto his bed, giggling. He didn’t know why, because he was still scared out of his mind about the idea of visiting Minghao at the homeless shelter, but he was actually starting to feel _better_ about everything. Less mopey, for sure. Maybe it was the fact that everyone around Minghao, everyone who spent more time with him and knew him better than Junhui did so far, seemed to think that Junhui was okay. That he was good enough for their friend, hell, that he was what Minghao _needed._ That, in itself, was reassuring.

But, oddly, seeing Soonyoung with Jihoon had also given him a not-so-small amount of hope, if he was being perfectly honest. He’d watched Soonyoung pine over Jihoon for two years, much longer than Junhui had spent losing his mind over Minghao (yet). He’d watched Soonyoung crush on Jihoon from afar, watched him be too shy to do anything about it. And now Jihoon was in their apartment, hanging out with Soonyoung, and Junhui knew that his little push of help had only done so much to make that happen. Soonyoung probably deserved a lot of the credit too, and once Junhui was through dealing with his own shit, he’d get the whole story of how it went down out of his roommate.

Once Soonyoung was through punishing Junhui for what he’d just done, also. There was that.

Junhui laid down to sleep after a while, knowing that tomorrow was the day. He couldn’t put it off any longer, and he didn’t want to. The determination he’d felt was still there, but he also felt _confident_ that he was doing the right thing. Nervously confident, but confident all the same. It was an improvement. Junhui could do this. He could prove that he was what Minghao needed.

He only hoped that Minghao was willing to let him in. Like, _physically_ let him in to his room at the shelter, never mind _emotionally._

That would definitely make things easier.

*

The next morning, Junhui was up before the sun. Truthfully, he hadn’t slept very much at all, so that wasn’t difficult to accomplish. He woke up early. He cleaned the living room and the kitchen. He made breakfast for himself and Soonyoung, and after a moment’s thought, added a third plate, just in case Jihoon was still there. He figured it could only help his case, in incurring as little of Soonyoung’s wrath from the previous night as possible.

Junhui had gone through his cereal, eggs, bacon, and two pancakes before Soonyoung shuffled out of his bedroom sleepily, sitting down at the table across from Junhui with a yawn. Junhui remained quiet, eating slowly as Soonyoung took in the state of the apartment, with its freshly cleaned kitchen and front room, and then stared down at his food, still steaming hot from where Junhui had kept microwaving it over and over (minus the cereal, of course) until Soonyoung showed up.

“Thanks,” Soonyoung said finally, picking up and shoving an entire sausage into his mouth. Junhui watched him as he chewed, waiting for whatever was going to happen next.

Soonyoung wiped his mouth on his arm ( _gross_ ) and took a long swig of orange juice, regarding Junhui with a little smile on his face. “Okay. You can ask me.”

Junhui raised an eyebrow. If Soonyoung had somehow forgotten about Junhui’s betrayal at the end of the previous evening, he wasn’t about to remind him. “How was your night, Soonyoung?” he questioned instead.

Soonyoung grinned, stabbing some eggs and bringing them to his mouth. “Fucking _phenomenal,_ ” he answered, stuffing his face anew. He didn’t look remotely displeased with Junhui. Just happy. It was refreshing. It made Junhui happy, too.

“I’m glad,” he said honestly, finishing off the last of his pancakes and clearing his plate himself. Soonyoung was still too sleepy and surprised and smiley to mention that Junhui was doing his entire job for him, probably. “I’ve gotta get going. I’m going to see Minghao,” Junhui said, turning off the sink and leaving the plates there as he made his way back over to Soonyoung.

At the table, Soonyoung glanced up from his food. “Oh? At the shelter?”

Junhui fought back the butterflies in his stomach. “Yeah. Just, not the animal one.”

Soonyoung finally remembered that he had a napkin, and made use of it. “Wow. Good luck, man,” he said after wiping his mouth, reaching up to pat Junhui on the back as best he could from his seat.

“Yeah,” Junhui said again. “Um… could I borrow your car? I don’t really want to take the bus since I don’t know… how long… how long I might be there,” he finished, his brain entertaining the best possible outcome of this plan for a few seconds as he zoned out where he stood.

“Sure,” Soonyoung said immediately, without argument. _Holy shit._ Maybe Jihoon really _was_ good for him. Maybe they mellowed each other out, or something, Junhui thought.

Junhui smiled gratefully and plucked Soonyoung’s keys off their hook on the wall of the kitchen, taking a deep breath. “Okay. I’m gonna do this,” he said, giving Soonyoung a quick nod before he headed for the door of the apartment via the living room.

“Oh, Jun?” Soonyoung’s voice rang out, right when Junhui had almost managed to escape. His hand was on the doorknob, for crying out loud. _So. Close._

Junhui cleared his throat. “Uh… yeah?” He closed his eyes, waiting for Soonyoung’s response.

“I think we should add another month to your dishes duty, for that crap you pulled last night, don’t you?” Soonyoung countered, his voice almost teasing, but Junhui knew he was serious.

He sighed, dropping his head in defeat. “Yeah, probably,” Junhui muttered, letting himself out the front door before Soonyoung could pile on any more punishments.

*

The drive to the shelter didn’t provide Junhui with nearly enough time to prepare for what he was about to do, just like the previous few days hadn’t, either. Junhui was in unfamiliar territory, now. He’d never done anything close to this, never even thought about it until Minghao. No one else had ever seemed worth the trouble, so Junhui hadn’t made an effort. But Minghao? Minghao was worth _everything._

Junhui pulled Soonyoung’s car up to the curb outside the shelter he’d located with help from Wonwoo. He didn’t know what he was expecting, but the place looked okay. It wasn’t run down by any means, or even in a bad part of town. There were about ten or so rooms, lined up on two floors with separate doors outside, and Junhui craned his neck, trying to see the numbers. Dino and Dokyeom had told him that Minghao stayed in room number 8, for his favorite number. Junhui found that sort of impossibly cute, honestly.

He sat in the car for another five minutes, taking deep breaths and generally just trying to pump himself up, hopefully without going so far as to lose his breakfast all over the dashboard. It worked as much as he needed it to. It worked well enough to propel him out of the car after a while, hopping over the curb and letting himself in through the open metal gate that separated the shelter from the street.

God, what if Minghao wasn’t even home? What if he’d gone out somewhere? Junhui wondered if he’d lose his nerve completely if he was forced to try again later. It was possible. He was just going to have to find out.

Slowly, he made his way up the stairs and to the door of number 8, designated only by a single sticker slapped onto the chipped, painted wood. Junhui took a deep breath, and then he knocked.

He knocked four times, and then four more. Because _eight._

Only a moment passed before Minghao’s voice sounded from inside.

“I’m not here.”

Junhui fought back a panicked chuckle. Minghao made him smile so much, underneath all the layers of nervousness he was currently experiencing. “Yes, you are,” he countered, raising his voice enough to be heard through the door.

When Minghao responded again, he sounded suspicious. “Who is it?”

Junhui didn’t answer. He was afraid that if he did, Minghao wouldn’t open the door, might tell him to leave immediately without even giving him a chance. He just stood there and waited, and after a while, that proved to be the right tactic, because he heard sounds of bed springs squeaking as Minghao got up, then feet padding towards the door.

There was no peephole, no window. Junhui was glad.

Junhui listened as Minghao unlocked the door quickly, and then, while he was in the middle of taking another deep, calming breath, Minghao opened the door a crack.

“Hi,” Junhui said right away. “I want to ta--”

Minghao frowned and slammed the door shut again.

It was about what Junhui had expected, but he wasn’t giving up that easy. He knocked again.

Inside, he heard Minghao groan. “Just go away, Jun. Please.”

Junhui set his mouth in a straight line of determination. “I’m not going anywhere, Hao.” He hoped it was alright to use the nickname. He liked the way it felt on his tongue.

When Minghao spoke again, it was quieter. Sadder. “I’m not worth the trouble, I promise,” he said softly, and Junhui frowned.

“Yes, you are. You _are_ worth it, to me,” he said, trying to keep desperation out of his voice.

Minghao didn’t answer for a while. After almost a full minute, Junhui sighed, sitting down outside Minghao’s door and scooting as close as he possibly could. “Look, if you won’t open the door, that’s fine. I’m still going to say what I came here to say,” Jun decided firmly, leaning his head against the wood.

Still no response from the other side.

Junhui started talking.

“I know you’re embarrassed about your situation, about staying here. But, I’m not. I don’t think any less of you for it,” Junhui began, licking his lips as he thought about how to go on. “Actually, I… I think it’s really brave, Hao,” he finished, giving himself a second’s break.

“I think that… I think it’s brave that you’re trying so hard to get somewhere, and I think that being here isn’t anything to be ashamed of,” Junhui said. “It’s just a bump in your road, y’know?”

He sighed, turning his head for a moment and staring out onto the street below, at the cars going by, oblivious to what was happening above them.

“I’m sorry, Minghao,” Junhui said next. “I’m sorry that every time we saw each other, things got screwed up. I’m sorry about all the misunderstandings and everything. I never wanted any of that to happen, and then it just…” he paused, letting out a breath of air before he went on. “It just kept happening, and I didn’t know how to fix it.”

“So…” Junhui murmured, almost to himself. “I’m here. I’m here to fix it.”

He cleared his throat, scrambling for the words he needed. “I don’t have any personal experiences like this, Hao, I don’t know what this is like, but… I’ve been through things, too,” Junhui said, raising his voice again, just in case Minghao was listening. For all Junhui knew, he had put in his earbuds inside his room, the better to ignore Junhui with.

He might not have even had an audience, but Junhui told his whole story, anyway. He started at the beginning, with baseball and dancing and school and not knowing what he wanted to do with his life. He kept going, through the first part of college, when he’d finally come out to his friends. When Junhui got to the part about being scared to date for the first time, about how it felt to still not be open and honest with his family about any of it, how it made him feel alienated and sad and how it translated to his indifference and indecisiveness with school, Junhui thought he heard Minghao sit down on the other side of the door. Maybe. Maybe he was closer. Junhui hoped so, because he was kind of starting to fall apart, on his side.

“Anyway, I’m just… I’m tired of being scared, Minghao. I’m tired of being so scared that I ruin everything,” Junhui continued, fighting back tears, suddenly. “I’m tired of being too scared to try and get what I really want.” Junhui looked up as the door in front of him rattled a little, accepting the weight of a body against it, a thin piece of wood away from Junhui.

“What I want is _you,_ Hao. I… I always have,” Junhui admitted, sniffling quietly. “I’ve liked you since the very first day I saw you in class. And every day I just… I like you more and more.”

On Minghao’s side of the door, Junhui thought he heard a small sigh, and maybe a giggle. He didn’t know which it was, or if it was either. So he kept going.

“Ever since I came out, I haven’t dated anyone. Fuck, I’ve… I’ve never even kissed a boy, officially,” Junhui said, wondering why he’d added _officially_ at the end, wondering what _officially_ even meant in this context.

“You’re the first person I’ve had such strong feelings for, ever,” Junhui confessed, feeling shy and bold all at once. “And you’re the only person I would do something like this for. The only person who’s worth it. I know you think you’re trash, Hao, but… but, _god,_ you’re not,” Junhui insisted, face an inch from the door, reaching up and placing his palm on it as if it would add some sort of emphasis to his words.

“You’re not trash. I think you’re the best person I’ve ever met in my entire life, and I think that where you are doesn’t make you what or who you are, and I think that what you are is... “ Junhui had to stop to take a breath. He had sort of forgotten.

“I think that what you are is _special,_ Hao. I think that you and your mind and your voice and your drawings and your dancing and your tattoos and your… the way you _care_ about people even though you’re struggling, I think that’s amazing,” Junhui said, his words tinged with the passion he felt.

Junhui was almost done. Probably. Hopefully. “I used to be scared every day, Minghao. Scared of who I was and scared of life. But now, all I’m scared of…” Junhui closed his eyes, the words on the tip of his tongue, tears slipping down his cheeks one after the other. “All I’m scared of is you not opening that door.”

He stopped, gulping in huge breaths, both because he kept running out of air from talking so much, and also as an attempt to stop his heart racing. Until now, Soonyoung (and sort of Jihoon, he guessed) was the only person who knew all of that about Junhui. But, he trusted Minghao with it, regardless of how this turned out. He felt good about saying it all. He could leave here with as few regrets as possible, either way.

Junhui sat and stared at the door between he and Minghao for a long while, without saying anything else. He started to wonder if maybe Minghao had spent Junhui’s entire confession cutting a person-sized hole in his wall with the knife he always carried around, and had escaped through it long ago, missing everything Junhui had said.

Finally, just as Junhui was growing increasingly distracted and panicked by that thought, the door opened again.

It was just a fraction of an inch, the tiniest, tiniest sliver of a centimeter, but it was enough.

It was enough for Junhui to see Minghao on the other side, tears in his eyes and hair framing his face as he stared at Junhui nervously.

It was enough for Junhui to feel hopeful again.

It was enough for Junhui to rock forward on his heels until half his face was inside Minghao’s room, so close to Minghao that he could have counted each eyelash fanning Minghao’s slightly damp cheeks.

It was enough for Junhui to kiss a boy for the very first time, to kiss _Minghao_ , just once, soft and sweet and full of everything he’d promised in his words. Everything he felt, and had felt.

It was enough.

Junhui had thought it would only be one kiss. That was all he’d been prepared for.

He was woefully unprepared when Minghao reached out and yanked Junhui inside by the collar of his jacket, kicking the door shut behind them once Junhui was on the right side of it and pulling Junhui closer, cool, slender hands cupping his face as they kissed and kissed.

Junhui was lightheaded and practically laying on top of Minghao by the time they had to stop and take a breath, and he just sort of stayed there while they worked on that, blinking down at Minghao and Minghao smiling up at him, just a little.

“Hi,” Minghao said finally.

“Hey,” Junhui answered, brushing Minghao’s long, in-need-of-a-cut hair away from his face.

Minghao sat up, forcing Junhui to do the same, and Junhui glanced around Minghao’s small room, at his few belongings and the bare walls, only one lamp in the corner lighting the place up.

He looked back at Minghao, who had been watching Junhui a bit anxiously. Junhui very much wanted to get back to kissing that anxiety away, but he was also suddenly consumed by one other thought, a much bigger promise than any of the ones he thought he would make to Minghao today.

One he hadn’t exactly shared with Soonyoung, since he’d only just thought of it, but oh well. He’d get to that.

“Move in with me,” Junhui said softly, still gazing at Minghao.

Minghao’s jaw dropped slightly as he looked at Junhui, clearly trying to gauge whether or not he was serious. Junhui guessed Minghao had determined he was, because he started to grin, after a few moments of silence.

“You sure you don’t wanna ask your _boyfriend_ if it’s okay, first?” Minghao said, his grin turning crooked and a smirk in his voice.

Junhui chuckled a little, lacing his fingers through Minghao’s, watching how they fit together perfectly. Knowing everything about this was perfect. He let that thought sink in, before he replied, a dark pink blush covering his cheeks as he did.

“I’m asking him right now.”


	10. Minghao

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting one day early because I might be busy tomorrow night!!

Bright.

Really bright.

Too damn bright.

Minghao rolled over, facing Junhui’s side of the bed -- away from the harsh light streaming in from the window. His eyes were barely open, and he could hardly see anything. He wrapped his arms around what he  _thought_ was his boyfriend, but he instantly knew something was off. Junhui was soft… in like the intangible sense of the world, not physically soft. Not _plush_ , like whatever he was hugging right now.

“Junhui,” he whined, squeezing his body pillow or whatever he was wrapped around.

“ _Junhuiii_ ,” he repeated, flailing a little as he released the pillow.

Minghao finally willed himself awake, opening his eyes more than before and lifting up the bedsheets to find what was definitely not his boyfriend.

Nope, that was definitely a mish-mash of pillows and Junhui’s shiba inu plush, not the boy he wanted to be cuddling with right now. _Where did he go_ , Minghao thought to himself. He finally rolled off of their bed, tossing on a shirt that wasn’t even close to matching his pajama bottoms. That’s what you get for picking your pajamas based off of what’s on the floor closest to the bed. He kept walking toward the door to the rest of the apartment, eyes still adjusting the bright morning sun streaming through the windows of their apartment.

Well, their apartment… plus Soonyoung’s.

Not that Soonyoung spent much time in their apartment now. Alone, at least. Shortly before Minghao moved in, Soonyoung had started spending about half his time at Jihoon’s larger apartment. When Soonyoung _was_ here, Jihoon inevitably was too. It was almost gross watching the two of them steadily become more domestic. Not that Minghao _also_ didn’t notice Soonyoung’s condom stash steadily getting depleted at a rate of three per week.

He figured if he had to take a math class for college, he should at least put it to use, right?

The whole Junhui-and-Soonyoung-getting-boyfriends-at-about-the-same-time thing helped make it easier for Junhui to convince Soonyoung to let Minghao move in. Apparently Junhui had also agreed to be on dishes duty for “til the end the time,” as well.

Oh, Minghao had almost forgotten their fifth family member. Shortly after walking out into the shared living space, she came running up, jumping up into Minghao’s lap as he crouched down to grab her. Lilli having two dads was quite a boon for the young Dachshund -- twice the number of treats, Minghao mused while looking over the Dachshund’s steadily rounding torso. _We need to take you to the park more_ , he thought. _And maybe go on more dates at the park_.

“Morning, Hao-hao~” a sweet-sounding voice sing-songed from the kitchen. Minghao looked up, seeing his boyfriend in his own soft (and actually matching) pajamas standing in front of the stove with a wooden spoon in hand.

“Morning, Jun-jun,” Minghao replied, putting Lilli back down on the floor. “You know, you might have some competition for who loves me more.”

Minghao wandered into the kitchen, catching the tail-end of Junhui’s incredulous-looking side-eye. “That’s not fair, she only has one setting,” Junhui complained while Minghao wrapped his arms around him.

Minghao furrowed his brow. “That’s not true,” he softly countered. “She barked at Jihoon the other day.”

“That’s probably because she feels threatened that she may not be the smallest thing in the apartment anymore,” Junhui deadpanned with a smirk. They laughed together, Junhui trying not to knock the pan over while he stirred their scrambled eggs. Just then, Lilli sauntered up to them, knowing that Minghao might be weak enough to give her food.

It was tough not being able to resist _two_ sets of puppy eyes every day.

“Did you already feed her?” Minghao lilted, placing a soft kiss on the side of Junhui’s neck.

“Half a piece of bacon.”

Minghao looked down at the pair of puppy eyes staring back at him. “Not today, Lilli,” he cooed. Lilli barked, switching sides. She was probably hoping that Junhui would be clumsy enough to stir something out of the pan he was working on; not a bad bet, if you asked Minghao.

“So why the special breakfast today, babe?” Minghao asked, returning to littering kisses up and down Junhui’s neck.

“Well, all four of us are here…” Junhui started.

“Oh, Jihoon and Soonyoung came back here?”

“Their shoes are by the door, so I think so.” Junhui motioned toward the door with his head, nearly whacking Minghao’s head in the process. “Whoops, sorry Hao. Also, it’s been a month.”

“A month?”

“A month since you moved in with me,” Junhui quietly repeated, leaving the spoon in the pan to gently remove Minghao’s hands from his waist with his own hands. He circled around to face Minghao head-on, pecking him on the lips. Afterwards, Junhui turned the burner off, grabbed the pan’s handle, and dumped the eggs onto a waiting plate near the stove.

Minghao followed Junhui like a lost puppy (even Lilli knew enough to vacate the kitchen), bumping into his boyfriend a few times while he grabbed silverware and chopsticks and plates for the table. “A whole month?” Minghao finally said, “Feels like three days.”

Junhui scoffed. “We’ve gone through half of Soonyoung’s condoms, Hao.”

“Right. Three days,” Minghao repeated, earning a light punch on the arm from Junhui.

“Go wake them up, will you?”

Minghao nodded, feeling a little bit more purpose in his routine now that Junhui had given him a direction.

That’s how he felt in general, too.

Minghao rounded the kitchen counter and walked up to Soonyoung’s door. Looking back to Junhui, he pulled his fist back, ready to bang on the door. Junhui giggled, and Minghao let loose, pounding on Soonyoung’s door five times. “Wake up, you lazy pipsqueaks!”

Junhui started cackling from the kitchen. “I think Jihoon’s gonna have to fight you for his honor now,” he wryly commented.

“Unless he gets a stepstool, I think I’ll be fine.”

Minghao was already halfway back to the kitchen when Soonyoung’s door swung open. “You woke Jihoon up, asshole,” he dryly commented.

“Food,” Minghao dryly replied.

Soonyoung turned back around and whispered something into his room before closing the door and heading over to the kitchen table with the rest of them. Minghao wandered toward Junhui and planted another string of kisses along Junhui’s cheeks until he reached his lips, connecting his lips with Junhui’s for a spell longer.

“Gross,” Soonyoung complained, taking a seat at the kitchen table and pulling some pancakes and strips of bacon onto a plate that he promptly placed at Jihoon’s seat.

“Oh c’mon,” Minghao challenged. “Like we haven’t seen you sucking Jihoon’s face for three years.”

“Yeah, but when you two do it, it’s gross,” Soonyoung snarked.

Minghao looked back at Junhui with an offended face, earning an amused look from his boyfriend. So much for backing him up. “I think you’re really gonna have to fight Jihoon for your honor now.”

“Great,” Minghao defensively replied, picking up a lamp from near the door. “I’ll use this.”

“Hey now!”

“That’s the only thing you _can_ use,” Soonyoung sassed, stuffing his face with more eggs. “The rest of the furniture is mine.”

Minghao’s expression dropped a little, turning back to face his boyfriend. “You only bought a lamp?”

“Um, listen, Soonyoung’s parents, uh, gave him a lot of furniture.”

Minghao shook his head, ignoring Jihoon finally joining them in the kitchen. “We’re gonna have to redecorate, babe. Class this place up.”

“Finally,” Jihoon added, taking his seat at the table. “So when are you two leaving then?”

Soonyoung guffawed, his face still stuffed full of food. It was a resting state, to be honest. Junhui was less offended than Minghao, but that was mostly because Junhui enjoyed any attention, even if it was blatantly insulting. Minghao didn’t dare challenge Jihoon, though -- if there was one thing he had learned about the older boy, it was that he could skewer him with words four times over before Minghao even understood the first insult. Junhui consoled him by intertwining his fingers in Minghao’s hand and leading the younger boy to the kitchen table, their hands still connected when they took their seats.

“So how was last night?” Junhui started, spooning food onto Minghao’s plate.

“Great!” Soonyoung chimed, surprising everyone by not having his mouth filled with food again. Jihoon took another dainty bite out of his pancake, the contrast not totally lost on Minghao.

Minghao smirked, ready to throw some shade back. “I think he meant the play.”

“Yeah, Soonyoung’s screaming was a little loud when we got back…” Jihoon muttered. “Not as loud as your whining for Junhui every hour of the day, though.”

“Awww, babe,” Junhui cooed, pinching his cheeks while Minghao felt his face flush bright red. He knew better and he _still_ went for it… Jihoon could always destroy his puny insults.

“The _play_ ,” Soonyoung started, accentuating the fact that he was indeed talking about the play this time, “was great, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.”

“Jihoon was too, so his feet could reach the ground,” Minghao added.

“I’ll have you know that he was on my lap for most of it.”

Minghao nearly choked on his food. “He -- he _chose_ to do that!?”

“Well,” Soonyoung mused. “There was a rather tall person in front of him. And my lap is rather comfy.”

Junhui and Minghao turned to look at Jihoon, who looked like he had accepted that Soonyoung was gonna rat him out at one point or another. Or maybe he was secretly seething. You could never tell with Jihoon. Well… except that this was Soonyoung, and Minghao was pretty sure Jihoon could _never_ get angry at Soonyoung. _Ever_.

“If I weren’t dating you, I think you’d be dead in a ditch by tomorrow,” Jihoon calmly replied. Minghao started cackling before Jihoon cut him off -- “Next to Minghao, of course.”

“Oh, beware though Jihoon,” Junhui playfully added. “Minghao might have a lamp.”

Jihoon gave them both a look of total and utter disgust, like their inside joke was ridiculously awful and they should feel awful for having it. Soonyoung giggled a little though, and Jihoon softened up a bit when he noticed that. Minghao looked over at Junhui, and, honestly? He felt the same as Jihoon sometimes. A lot of his moods had gone away since he started dating Junhui; he still was snarky and a little defensive, but Junhui softened him up. As much as he hated to admit it, Minghao wasn’t really all that scary to begin with… but with Junhui, he was extra not-scary. Just like Jihoon around Soonyoung.

*

“Do we _have_ to go in together again?” Minghao whined, standing just outside the shelter with Junhui and Lilli. Last time he went in with Junhui, Dokyeom and Dino wouldn’t leave him alone about it for a week. Actually, they _still_ wouldn’t leave him alone about it -- it had only been a week since last time!

“ _Yes_ , we do,” Junhui insisted, putting a hand on his hip while Lilli sniffed some bushes near the entrance to the shelter. Maybe it smelled like Junhui? “Dino loves Lilli, and Lilli loves Dino. And I’ll be damned if I deprive her of all the love she deserves on a daily basis.”

Minghao shook his head. “There’s not enough love in the world,” he muttered.

“What was that?” Junhui questioned. “Did I just hear my boyfriend saying that he doesn’t have enough love?”

“Um, no,” Minghao lied. “It’s just that all of the world that exists in the entire universe goes to you, babe, so I’m a little short on it for Lilli.”

“ _Gross_ ,” a third voice chimed in. Dino swaggered on into their conversation and scooped Lilli up, disconnecting her leash while she attacked his face with her tongue. “I’ll just take Lilli til her dads are done arguing.”

“Oh, and Junhui?” Dino lilted, halfway in the door. “If you wanna hide from your feelings for Minghao again, the bush is right there!” he finished with a wink.

Minghao looked over at quizzically. _The bush?_ he tried to ask with his confused expression, earning a sheepish look from his sweater-clad boyfriend. “I know you love me Hao,” Junhui explained. “We probably shouldn’t argue in front of Lilli. It’s bad for her.”

“Junhui, I love you, but I don’t think Lilli can hear us,” Minghao retorted, rubbing his temples slightly.

“She knows,” Junhui politely replied, pulling one of Minghao’s hands down from his head to lace their fingers together. “She knows.”

“Ooookay,” Minghao acquiesced, walking into the shelter with Junhui.

Dino may have made fun of him about Junhui, but he knew that Dino secretly loved that they were dating. Well, it wasn’t even a secret -- Dino just couldn’t resist giving Minghao a little bit of shit about how much he softened up for Junhui. And Dino had learned much more about when to lay off; he nearly tore Dino’s head off after Dino exclusively pestered Minghao about Junhui during their first shift together after they were, you know, _official_. Now it was just a jab here and there, like the little brother Dino always was.

Minghao was working his shift at the shelter today. Unlike last term -- when Minghao worked the afternoon -- he worked mornings before his afternoon class. He hadn’t missed one of his volunteer shifts since the whole debacle last month… not that Dokyeom minded _too_ much about him missing a few shifts. He was a volunteer, after all.

At least for now.

Dokyeom had mentioned something about finding enough money in the budget to throw him on payroll? He was cautiously optimistic, a much healthier attitude than before with the whole Junhui thing. Ya know, when he was actively pessimistic.

“Oh, have you guys made up?” Dino teased, holding Lilli’s floppy ears down. He was sitting on the floor near one of the couches with Lilli in his lap and toys already strewn about around his person. “I guess I don’t need to cover Lilli’s ears anymore.”

“Oh my _god_ ,” Minghao protested, vehemently rolling his eyes. As if _that_ every persuaded Dino to stop being a little shit.

“Hey Minghao and Junhui,” Dokyeom called out from the front desk. “What brings both of you here?”

“Um, I volunteer Monday mornings,” Minghao blankly replied. “You scheduled that, like, weeks ago.”

“I mostly meant Junhui.”

“Oh.”

“Well --” Junhui started.

“-- Junhui was here to take Lilli on a…” Dino interrupted. He paused for a moment to cover Lilli’s ears again with his hands. “W-A-L-K.”

“Right,” Junhui agreed with a nod. “Can’t say the ‘W’ word around her, she’ll get too excited.”

“We have the same thing with Minghao,” Dino cheekily continued. “We can’t say the ‘J’ word around him.”

“You little sh--”

“-- _Junhui_ ,” he whispered toward none other than Junhui himself, earning a bout of _adorable_ giggling from his boyfriend. Dino was just fortunate that Junhui would be ridiculously upset if anything were to ever happen to the little shit… that was the only thing between Dino and complete and utter annihilation.

“Yeah, he just perks up and looks around for you like a lost puppy,” Dino added, miming what was probably supposed to be a lovestruck Minghao but ended up looking more like a meerkat.

Minghao shook his head. “Don’t mind Dino, he’s actually 12 years old.”

“Wow, babe, you’re getting dissed over and over by a 12 year-old?” Junhui quickly snarked, walking over toward Lilli to hook her leash back on. “Maybe I’ll have to find a new boyfriend…”

Before Minghao could stammer out a response, Junhui floated over to him and pecked him on the lips.

“ _Gross!_ ” Dino bemoaned from behind them.

“It’s okay, kid, you’ll get it when you’re older,” Junhui quickly replied, before waving goodbye and blowing a kiss at Minghao. Lilli promptly hopped out of the store with Junhui, leaving Minghao alone with his disrespectful best friend and dopey boss.

Though… he did start to feel a little insecure about being with Junhui.

“Dino… do you -- do you really think Junhui and I argue too much? That we’re not right for each other?”

Minghao watched as Dino looked like he was immediately about to respond with something snarky, but he caught himself, realizing that Minghao was being serious about this. Dino retooled himself, pausing to come up with a good answer.

“Obviously you know your relationship better than me, Hao-hao,” Dino started. “But, like, I know what I’ve seen of you in the past month. And you’re doing a lot better. A lot better. You seem happier. Less on-edge. Junhui makes you a better person, even if there are little bumps along the way, you know?”

“But sometimes I worry that I’m not good enough for him,” Minghao blurted out, earning a befuddled look from Dino.

“You’ve been worrying about that since Day 1, but he keeps coming back to you. If he wanted to get out and move on, he had plenty of chances. Clearly he thinks you’re plenty good enough for him.”

“He asked you to move in with him,” Dokyeom added from behind the counter. Minghao had forgotten about him because, well, Dokyeom was hardly paying attention, absentmindedly filling out forms.

“Right?” Dino agreed. “Hao-hao, he really loves you, and you love him. You rescued each other from crappy spots, you know?”

“I -- I guess.”

“You think too much about it, Hao-hao.”

Just then, a very frazzled-looking Seungkwan burst through the door with a worried-looking Hansol not far behind. True to form, Hansol was holding a pet carrier -- again.

“I swear to god, Minghao, if I run into your boyfriend one more time, I’m gonna lose it,” Seungkwan complained, marching up to the front desk. “And we all know how close I am to losing it.”

“How close are you to losing it?” Dino quickly asked, snickering a little.

“ _Well_ , if you guys thought my last semester was hard, this semester is _even harder_. I’m overloading with five science classes -- and we all know that science classes are the hardest, of course -- and two of them have labs. One of them doesn’t even grade on a curve. Can you imagine that? What the hell was that professor thinking, not grading on a curve? We’re all gonna fail. But I have to fail the least so that when they inevitably _have_ to curve it, I have the best grade.”

“Uh huh,” Dino snorted, glancing over at Minghao with an amused look.

Minghao was more focused on what Seungkwan said first.

“What the hell did Junhui do to you?”

Seungkwan rolled his eyes, like he didn’t have time for this. Or anything really. Anything unless it was named Buttercup or Hansol, at least. “Well, every time I run into him, he just starts blabbering on and on about his boyfriend -- you -- talking about how in love he is and so on. Like I have time to hear about that?”

Dino glanced over in Minghao’s direction again. “Told you,” he whispered, winking at Minghao.

“And what’s wrong with Buttercup this time?” Dino asked, effortlessly directing his attention back to Seungkwan and all of his Problems.

“We think she lost her voice,” Hansol answered.

Minghao nearly lost his shit. “ _You’ve got to be kidding me_.”

*

By the time Dokyeom convinced Hansol and Seungkwan that, no, chinchillas cannot lose their voice, Dino and Minghao had nearly wrapped up their shift. Minghao was in a rush to run back to campus, leaving Dino alone to tidy up the front while he bolted out the door.

It was Monday, so he had an afternoon class and not a lot of time to get lunch. Junhui insisted on getting lunch together on Mondays -- not that Minghao objected -- but this time his boyfriend had invited two of his friends from Prob and Conf to join them.

Junhui casually mentioned that his friends were dating. He winked at the same time.

If that was Junhui challenging Minghao to be as flirty as possible during what turned out to be a double-date… well, Minghao didn’t need a written invitation.

Apparently one of the guys from Prob and Conf suggested a sushi place near campus. Something about an all-you-can-eat option? Not that Minghao needed that… but Junhui? Junhui could eat everything. In fact, in the past few weeks, Minghao had seen Junhui put at least seventeen different things that weren’t food or his toothbrush in his mouth. And sixteen of those didn’t make sense.

Minghao wandered into the restaurant, instantly spotting Junhui and two other boys sitting near a row of windows. Junhui waved him over. All three of them stood up, and… well, Minghao had never felt short before, but one of the other boys there easily had some height on him. And then there was Junhui and the other boy, who were slightly shorter than the tall boy. But Minghao? Minghao was shorter than all of them.

Oh god.

As he got closer, he instantly recognized the other two boys Junhui invited. They were the ones always doing coupley shit in Prob and Conf. This might actually be a challenge if Junhui wanted him to flirt.

The taller boy greeted him first, shaking his hand enthusiastically. “Minghao? I’m Mingyu.”

“Wonwoo,” the other boy waved with a small smile.

“Nice to meet you,” he replied with a smile. “Again, I guess.”

“I’m so glad Junhui finally decided to ask you out.”

“Wait, what?” Minghao asked while Junhui pecked him on the cheek, pulling out Minghao’s chair next to his own. “Junhui talked to you about me?”

“Talked. Vented. Cried. Junhui was absolutely smitten for you,” Wonwoo reported, scooting his seat closer to Mingyu’s once he sat down. Minghao collapsed into his chair, watching Junhui warily while his boyfriend took his own seat, blushing a little. He must’ve known that Wonwoo and Mingyu were gonna bust his chops about this. He must’ve known.

He wanted Minghao to know about this?

It was kinda cute.

He leaned over and planted a kiss on Junhui’s cheek while the two other boys looked through the menu.

“They’re still in the PDA stage of the relationship,” Wonwoo muttered, earning a giggle from Mingyu.

“Like we can’t one-up them, babe,” Mingyu snickered.

So that _was_ the idea.

Minghao leaned over to Junhui, bringing his mouth really close to Junhui’s ear. “Did you plan this?”

Junhui giggled a little. Then he nodded ever-so-slightly, subtle enough not for Mingyu and Wonwoo to catch. Not that they didn’t already know that this was Junhui’s plan as far as he knew.

“Fine then,” Minghao whispered again.

Minghao adjusted his head, and he leaned in toward Junhui’s face again. He placed another kiss on Junhui’s cheek and started smiling shortly thereafter.

“Maybe we should order something,” Junhui lightly suggested.

Minghao quickly replied. “Are you on the menu?”

Wonwoo started choking on his water.

“They… they might have us beat,” Mingyu commented.

Wonwoo put his menu down and gave Mingyu a look. “Do you even know yourself? Do you even know who you are as a person?”

Minghao giggled a little. “Are you gonna do all-you-can-eat?” Minghao asked his boyfriend, scooting his chair a little bit closer so that their bodies were almost touching.

“No, I was actually thinking about splitting something with you, Hao-hao. With Salsa dancing after this, you know.”

Oh right. They decided to take a dance class together.

“That’s what _we_ were gonna do,” Mingyu pouted. “I wanted to split something with you, babe.”

“No, we weren’t?” Wonwoo objected. “I wanted to eat today.”

Minghao started laughing again.

By the time he stopped, Junhui was staring back at him with a soft look. Junhui immediately swooped in and kissed him on the nose. “You are _so_ cute.”

After a few more minutes of not-so-subtle flirting, Minghao and Junhui eventually decided on ordering a combination platter of a few different sushi rolls. Wonwoo begrudgingly agreed to split something with Mingyu, but only after the taller boy pouted for about three years. Minghao also thought that maybe Wonwoo wanted to get it over with because the other boy groaned a little every time he and Junhui did something a little flirty.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t just a _little_ flirty.

He loved Junhui _so_ much, and he sucked at the whole words thing most of the time, so they liked to do little kisses here and there and cuddling and touchy-feeling things and -- now that he was describing it, Minghao could see why Wonwoo thought it was a little gross.

It was like the two of them had to get out all the love they had built up over the past few weeks of pining after each other.

By the time their sushi rolls came out, Minghao had already decided exactly what he was going to do next. He quickly grabbed his chopsticks, picked up one of the rolls, and held it up in front of Junhui’s mouth. Junhui giggled, and then opened his mouth.

“Oh my _god_ ,” Mingyu muttered. “See, babe! It’s a totally normal thing.”

“I am not letting you feed me,” Wonwoo rejected. “Not after last time.”

“I didn’t know that you couldn’t handle spicy!”

“And I didn’t know that you wouldn’t warn me! Am I supposed to magically read your mind?” Mingyu lightly punched Wonwoo in the arm, earning an amused look from the shorter boy.

Wonwoo chuckled. “You? With magical powers? I doubt the world would trust you with that kind of responsibility, babe.”

Junhui giggled before swallowing the whole sushi roll that Minghao had been holding for like thirty seconds. “You’re worse than Lilli,” Minghao lilted, thinking about Junhui literally ate anything and everything.

His boyfriend tried to make an offended face before falling apart and laughing his butt off. “I love you, Hao-hao. You rescued me from being an old cat lady. Just with dogs. And being a guy. And gay.”

Minghao smiled. “You rescued me from my own dumb self, Junhui.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shuuvee: omg, I can’t believe it’s over!! First off, thank you so much for reading all of this -- I didn’t quite realize how much of a monumental project this was gonna be when we started, but here we are at like 40k words! Secondly, thank you to Jinx, who’s the real champ for writing such an amazing Junhui ;_; I’ve never been able to write long fics before, and writing this with you really helped me get over my long-fic-phobia. We make a great team! Finally, to everyone who left kudos, comments, bookmarks or subs along the way: thank you for encouraging us to keep writing. Of course we try to motivate ourselves when it comes to writing, but gratification makes everything easier <3 Our next fic together has already been outlined and should be getting published in the next few weeks~
> 
> rendawnie: Well, it was a marathon, but we made it! Thank you so much to everyone who read and commented on this, and everyone who left us kudos. You kept us going when we started to doubt ourselves. To shuuvee: You made writing fun again. You already know all this, but I was in a mega-slump when we started this big story. I’d barely written or posted for months. Writing with you made me love writing for the first time in ages, and get excited about it, and now I can’t seem to stop! So, thank you. Thank you for writing a perfect Minghao for Junhui. You’re my favorite. <3 And lastly, to the readers who stuck with this story until the end: we hope you’ll check out our next, upcoming Seventeen fic very soon. We love you so much!


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